assistant buyer

senior software engineer

software engineer

associate buyer

fulfillment associate

Zulily

I was hired on as a remote contractor in the Hardlines- Toys & Games department. First, some good stuff: the training is immensely thorough and they really take the time and care to provide you with the tools to utilize their system and succeed. They also keep all the training items available after you finish in case you ever need to go back and reference something, which is always appreciated in a remote setting. On top of that, no one throughout my contract ever made me feel bad for having questions, which was wonderful.

I can only speak as an hourly contractor, not as a regular employee, but if I were offered a position in that department, I would not accept. However, not everyone in that department is bad. I think it very strongly depends on the team you're in. The first team I worked on respected that I'm a human being with a life outside of work. I loved my manager and teammates on Team A as they encouraged my work and growth positively. After I had been there a few months, another team in that department lost employees going to other companies and needed help. I was asked if I would switch teams, and I figured this would be an excellent way to show my flexibility as a team player while helping a team in need.

Team B, while I learned a lot from them, was a very toxic environment. I moved apartments while working for Team B, and I sustained an injury and had to go to a specialist for said injury. The only times available were during work hours, no weekends or weeknights were available for this office. I let Team B know 2 weeks ahead of my appointment that I would be going to said specialist and would work a bit later that day to make up for the hours, and I planned with my vendors and workload accordingly. There were no workload issues due to my proper planning.

A few days later however, I was pulled into a surprise "mandatory" teams meeting. This came on during a very serious deadline that was closing in 30 minutes and the website had been giving me problems all day up to that point, but they refused my request to wait 30 minutes until I finished the deadline. During this surprise meeting I was reprimanded by my manager and the department head for over 30 minutes for not being on during the "set schedule" on that dr. appointment day. And like something out of a movie, they then mentioned the deadline I had just missed because of this "mandatory" meeting. This came from my manager's mouth, who also told me when I first joined their team that the vendors are in different areas of the country, and so my work hours would look different depending on the week and who I was dealing with more that week. This meeting also happened only 2 days after a department-wide meeting where the head of the department told everyone that we're human and to take time as needed and just plan for your work accordingly. We were all told "work will always be there, but you will not - take care of yourselves". When I was getting reprimanded during that meeting for going to the doctor, I was told that it didn't matter what was going on in my life, injury or no, and that if I'm not there during the "set" hours, that's a "big problem for my future with Zulily". 

Just for reference, they had renewed my contract 4 times at that point, for 1 month each time but evaded questions on how to follow up with my application for a permanent position each time as trying to contact anyone in HR was getting met with silence.

About a week after my reprimanding meeting, Team B's manager told me they wouldn't be renewing my contract, and that they weren't unhappy with my performance, they just found someone permanent to take the place that I had been "holding" for them. 

The manager of Team B passively promoted working longer than 40 hours a week numerous times. During my contract, my team managers approved my weekly time cards. While on Team B, the manager vocally rejected paying overtime because they deemed "anything that couldn't be done in 40 hours would just have to wait" but then would, in that same breath, tell me that my sole focus during my contract should only be proving myself to Zulily to get a permanent spot and making sure everything is done properly while there, no matter how long the tasks take. 

My teammate, a permanent employee, who had been working there for 2 years, regularly worked an extra 10-12 hours a week on top of her 40, but never let our boss know or reported her actual hours. I know this because she begged me not to say anything when I realized this from our workload timestamps and asked her about it. Our boss definitely knew what was going on because every action you do in their system, everyone can see it and it leaves a time stamp of both the date and time. Our boss commented to me multiple times about timestamps in out-of-office hours, but the comments were "wow, you were working late after a full day, make sure you take you're hydrating and taking your breaks". It sounds nice until you realize they didn't tell me to stop, they just wanted to make sure I didn't burn out but could continue working those long hours. 

About 2 weeks away from my contract ending, I was at a point where I stopped caring because of everything that had gone on and blatantly said in a meeting with the manager "60 hour work weeks are crazy here, 4th week in a row for me! How do you keep your energy up?". Instead of telling me to not do that, they just chuckled and told me they couldn't afford to have me burn out before I leave and then changed the subject.

I loved my work there and still am incredibly proud of what I accomplished. It was rewarding and fulfilling, but I learned a very hard lesson about boundaries from them. 

As the title of this review states - apply at your own risk.

Zulily is absolutely wonderful!
First of all - literally the only call center I've worked in where I'm not screamed at by an angry customer every other call, and I can actually give them the help and resolution they deserve!
Next up - Zulily really does care about it's customers, unlike the other call centers I've worked in where they claim they do but they don't. Zulily said it, and then showed it - which is a really nice change of pace. Every other call center I've worked in they're so stuck on the money and policies that it truly hinders employees from being able to help customers and be able to regain their business, and then the employee gets blamed - by the customer, and the company! Zulily is set up completely different. They're customer first, they provide a lot of great tools for you to help a customer - such as being able to notate customer complaints and issues that go to a team that ACTUALLY reads them and then the company makes it right! For example - customers that ordered a jacket were receiving them and the sizing didn't match the chart the vendors gave Zulily. Zulily read that feedback, worked with the vendor, and got the size charts updated to be accurate! You can submit feedback on anything and everything - customer received wrong item, received damaged item, color or pattern completely different than pictured, sizing wrong, positive feedback, etc etc etc. Zulily actually encourages their employees to get detailed feedback so that they can provide better products for customers! I've never worked for ANY company EVER that truly encourages feedback and acts on it. Another thing they do is they have a knowledge base for employees that make it SO easy to help customers. Customer having tech issues? Go to your knowledge base and get the form that walks you through how to try and help & provides forms that can be submitted for the tech team to help. Customer is saying a coupon didn't work? Knowledge base will have an article that explains all the rules, dates, exclusions, etc. Forget how to request time off? Knowledge base has a step by step article that explains how and includes the link/form. You don't remember the shipping time frames for Canada? You don't remember what to do if customer received item damaged? You don't remember when you should refund vs reorder? ETC!! It's all in there! If you can't tell already - I love the knowledge base! You can find just about anything and everything on there! 
Training is wonderful - they're very in depth, trainer will most likely follow the pace of the class so you won't feel rushed, they truly do encourage asking questions and don't get frustrated to explain things more in depth, etc. If I remember correctly they also give you time on the phones during training so that you can dip your toes in the water and start to get comfortable with your new knowledge, all the while they're there to support you if/when you need it. 
On the management side of things - I've worked for them twice, different manager both times. The first time I didn't care for my manager. I wasn't even out of training yet and she seemed irritated by me asking questions that are good to know (like how to request time off, how to sign up for the mandatory overtime hours I needed to do, etc). But maybe that's just the way it came across to me, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. It's hard to tell through messages. The second time I worked there I got an AMAZING manager! She was truly something to behold. She sent out daily reports, constantly give feedback, was very positive, was very helpful. When I was struggling to meet adherence goals we had several meetings where she was truly interested in helping me get on track. She would ask why I thought I was struggling, what could she do to help, she would suggest things that might help me improve, etc. Every day I would get an email from her with my metrics, along with a positive message of "you can do it, I believe in you". One of the best managers I've ever had, hands down the best I've ever had in a call center!
The job truly is simple. Not many irate customers - and when there are they're usually marked to go to tier 2 so you don't have to handle them anyways. You get tons of tools to truly help and put the customer first. Only reason I'm giving 4 stars is because I do feel that the pay should be better. But the job is wonderful, and I would go back if given the chance! I would 100% recommend working here - literally the only downside is that the pay could be a weensy bit better, but that is so small in comparison to how well you'll be treated here and how good you'll feel to have the freedom to truly help your customers instead of being limited by the company "policies" just for the company to then turn around and blame you.

"This review you are about to read is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god."-the scathing truth
First off, If you want to be management or have "a good job," like delegating tasks or having a postion in the office, don't plan on it. Here you are a number, especially if you're hired into the "warehouse floor." They have over 2,000 people here so if you're at the bottom, no matter what you think you won't be noticed. I have a couple of degrees and certifications, and even ran heavier equipment than they ever seen in their lives. Still, they won't trust you with a real box-cutter. The starting wage for a warehouse person is $12 supposedly. But I was told that it won't even start at that. It would be $11-11.50. So, they lie to many new people when they hire them. Most likely if you are a new hire they will stick you on the floor "picking." You would think in your interview they would tell you the job description of this particular job, but they won't. It is quite the "bottom of barrel" type of job. It has the highest turnover. They fire over 75 people a month from this sorry, pitiable life of a job. Your boss will probably be some 19yr-old goof ball that sucks up so much it's disqusting. That's the environment there. Everyone thinks that if they work on the "line" and show promise that they will rise. Sorry, not so. There is quite a double standard there as well people think because they work in the office,that everyone else is beneath them. Heck, even the guy that got moved from picking to a job where he stands and does one repetitive thing all day thinks he's better and higher than a picker. It's disquisting, a year later the guy that moved from picking to a job standing or with some level of "responsibility" thinks he's moved up when he's getting paid the same as a year ago. There's a double standard with management they can have phone, leave for lunch, have a longer lunch, and don't have to clock in. Yeah they pretty much treat the average person that works there like they are a low down dirty criminal. Your not to be trusted with the simplest of things. It's truly the most demeaning place I have ever worked, and I've had bad jobs. Lastly you will be walking 12miles a day. When I was there they had hired a pregnant girl and a 67 yr old Woman to do a picking job. Why? Because they are desperaattttte. Wanna be Amazon. Terrible place. Be ready to swollow your pride and soul. Welcome to the corporate machine that feeds off of the poor's backs. My gosh, you can even afford a house with 19k a year. You would have to go with no food! And that's too much for Medicare recipients. I can't believe that. Pay you a wage where you can't even afford a house but you don't deserve Medicare? Ok. I'm sure all the office personel are living very comfortable in the suburbs.

So, first things first: Zulily's not necessarily a bad spot for writers to start their career at. After all, most copywriting jobs ask for 1-3 years of experience, and this company will generally take writers on even without any professional background whatsoever. The work seems manageable at first, too. It certainly helps that the environment is friendly.

The thing is, that initial mystique does not last.

Once you're fully onboarded, product copywriters are required to write 140 descriptions a day. Most people at the company (leadership especially) may act like this isn't a big deal. And, once you're in the thick of the work, you'll probably even find simple ways to meet your quota. But the realty is that workload is unreasonably high--in fact, it's outright unheard of for any other company. Before long, you'll start to sacrifice quality for quantity, and probably feel more like an assembly line worker than a creative. It's really no exaggeration to call the work soul-crushing, especially when peak season arrive and quotas rise even higher (and, more than likely, managers start asking for overtime).

Your work will be made a whole lot tougher by a generally unresponsive writing interface, and a tech team that's slow to address crippling issues. What you'll learn to become most frustrated with is the merchandising team, who are consistently demanding, rude, and astonishingly unprofessional. Your department will support you just fine, sure. But basically everyone else in the company will treat you like you're not worth their time.

It also doesn't help that compensation, simply put, blows. The hourly rate is practically criminal for the amount of pressure and stress you're put through, and your sick days are tied to your PTO--so, don't get sick, or else you're cutting into your own vacation time. There are bonuses and raises, but they're so insultingly low that it's hard to recommend putting in the extra effort in chasing them.

To bring back the positive side, though, this experience will look good to other, better employers. (After all, bosses love the idea of a writer who's used to working harder for less pay, right?) So, again, as a resume builder, there are worse companies out there.

But, there are better companies out there, too.

What I'm trying to say here is Zulily is, put in the best possible terms, a better-than-awful choice for a writer, if you have basically no other prospects. And if that's your situation, there's no shame in accepting their dismal offer and working there.

Just do yourself a favor and don't plan on STAYING there.

I worked at this place for YEARS and there are no real nice things to say about zulily.  Company has branched out into a huge retail group who unfortunately does not see the value in their employees either.  zulily company started as a "start-up" and after a $2B deal still underpays its staff after 8 years of real growth.  HSN, QVC, zulily are a package deal but cannot find the money to compensate their employees in the Seattle market?  My co-workers spent their mornings rationing out pretzels to snack on throughout the day so they won't starve.  I've had to bring my coworkers lunch so they had the energy to even work.  I couldn't afford to do that either.  I ordered food delivery for lunch and on many occasions, my food was stolen -  instead of being upset, I found a sense of giving because I knew how little the pay and I too had been hungry. Co-workers cried on a daily basis and meeting rooms are where they were found.  

Studio management is AWFUL.  A "lazy-susan" of  supervisors to make all the creative decisions whom have no real experience in a studio.  Bonus program based off  "zuFIT"  which means nothing but smooching up to those making those decisions. Were they already favorites and on their way to a promotion simply due to a lighter workload and enough free time to make an "impact"? It leaves others to picking up the slack.  Favoritism *is* a disease there.  It did me NO GOOD be a huge contributor to the process. Colleagues who are under-qualified for roles will be given them at the cost of losing others and that was almost always a choice based off of favoritism.  It was hard to be inspired by studio leadership when they were in positions way over their heads. I cannot tell you anything good about the management and/or leadership at all.  It never got better.  It only got worse.

They will exploit you, your energy, your talents and leave you wondering why you cannot get a raise, a bonus, or even recognition you truly deserve.  There are many AMAZINGLY TALENTED individuals who've left.  They were the smarter ones getting out early because staying there and helping that company evolve into success left me with nothing but increased health issues and no money to pay for them. 

Run.  Don't waste your energy on this place.

A typical work day at zulily for me was arriving to work at 7:30 am and logging on to my computer to check on PO shipments for each of the vendor specialists I worked for.  For every late PO shipment I saw, I sent a an email to the vendor inquiring what was going on.  If a vendor had not responded back to me by 11 am, I would make a phone call to them. When I finished taking care of all the late shipments, I would move on to shipments that were arriving that day. While emailing and calling the vendors, I would also be checking my inbox for responses from vendors.  If they discussed various problems, such as routing or warehouse delivery, I would try to get those issues solved.  I rarely talked with my supervisors face-to-face.  When I had a question, I would message one of them over Microsoft Lync.  If they had something important to say, they'd send out an email.  What I learned most was how to communicate with people.  Although my supervisors never made me feel comfortable asking questions, I learned it was always best to do so and not risk making mistakes.  When I communicated with vendors, I learned how to convey being friendliness and a willingness to help them while at the same time showing I couldn't be walked over.  If a vendor kept making excuses day after day about not getting a product out, I would show less and less concern and more impatience.  I'd continuously make it clear that I wanted their tracking info and wouldn't stop bugging them until I got it.  My co-workers were pretty great.  There are a lot of young twenty and thirty-something people who work at zulily and it was pretty easy to make friends with other temps there.  I made a few friends there that I'd have lunch with, or just sit around and chat with on small breaks.   The friends I had there were the most enjoyable part of working at zulily for me.  The hardest parts though were feeling like my supervisors didn't care much about me or the other temps.  I only felt really noticed by them, if I had done something wrong on my job, which happened a bit in my first week.  There was also a lot of pressure from from my supervisors to get things done, even though they weren't always clear on what exactly needed to be done.

I worked for Zulily for almost 6 months and they decided to not renew my contract (which had expired 3 months earlier and HR wouldn't give me a status update on my position), the week before Christmas, my last day being the Dec. 23rd. They had been training me for over 3 months as a merchandise coordinator, without any feedback about how I was doing in comparison to others in my position. I never once spoke to my superior, not even when she sat through me being let go and never said a word to me. She sat through the bad news and then left to get my personal effects from my desk, returned to drop them off and then left. No hand shake or thanks or anything. The HR person was great but they literally put me in a cab and sent me home. I wasn't able to say any goodbyes or even get my own possessions. They sent a box of my stuff home with my neighbor, who worked there, and she left it on my very-visible porch; no knock on the door, no words of encouragement or appreciation, since I'd been working to make her money for months. The real kicker with that was that inside was one of my medications, for a seizure disorder she was well-aware of an I had it mailed to work since I was never at home and didn't expect to be fired. To this day, she hasn't even acknowledged me and our houses literally look into each others. That's loyalty? They lied about their motives for letting me go and call that professionalism.

Sadly, the part that hurts the most is that I spent nearly six months working for a company that slapped me in the face rather than give me tips or feedback, or helpful management.
They put the cart before the horse and hired too many employees too quickly and then put unattainable quotas on their buyers and assistant buyers. I know they were doing almost all their recruiting through temp agencies and never committing to anyone. Before they let me go, they fired several individuals that had been there from the beginning of the company with no remorse, as I saw all the directors going to coffee right after one of them, laughing and chatting it up.

Morning meeting, then go to my supervisor to see if he needs me to receive or close manifests or train. 

If I receive, then I go to my workstation and load up my line with merchandise that is staged in front of my work area, grab pallets and totes or Z-racks if need be, and receive with my computer. 

If I close manifests, then I have a list of manifests that are getting close to their 48 hour mark and I need to find out why they have not been received and put away yet. Then after finding as many of those manifests, I red flag them, then go back to my workstation and see how many of those manifests I can close and close them. Sometimes further research is involved if need be.

If I train someone,  while they watch what I do, I explain to them the process. After a while, I will ask them questions to see if they remember. If they do not, I go over that step or issue with them until they remember it. It takes several days to a little over a week sometimes, depending on the learning skill of the trainee. However long it takes, I will always be there to help.

I have one 30min lunch and two 15min breaks. 

I clean up my area at the end of the day then go home.

I learned how to close out manifests, how to use an i-pod if necessary and to problem solve if necessary.

My co-workers are awesome. My lead and supervisor are great. Upper management is very understandable.

The hardest part of my job is walking for a long distant to locate all the missing manifests that need to be received or put-away.

The most enjoyable part of the job is when I am safe and get to go home to my family at the end of the day. SAFETY FIRST!

A typical day at work depends on what youre job title is.
If you a picker, than the typical day at work consists of constantly moving and trying to reach your numbers every hour. Lately while construction is goin on.
As a lead the typical day consists of checking associates in at the whiteboards in order to staff departments accordingly, and then relaying numbers and UPH to associates hourly.
Sometimes you will moniter an associates time on task for any gaps in work. you will also need to be flexible as you may be sent into production as needed, or help in other departments.

Some of the management is good, some are more interested in furthering their own careers then helping out associates of a lower standing and teaching them the information tey would need in order to advance. 

The employee atmosphere is mostly positive, with the associates all being really nice and friendly. Even helpful. But for the most part, associates feel as if they are being hounded to get numbers, and consitently worried about losing their jobs not meeting management requirments.

The hardest part of the jopb honestly, is during peak season when it seems like your home life to work life ratio is out of whack, and you end up seeing your co-workers more than your family. Sometimes mandating 6 work day's. Often you will work 6 days for maybe 3 months during the peak season.

The most enjoyable part is meeting all the different people and working with them. Finding out what drives them, and experiancing the different personalities that you meet.

Being asked to write a review for zulily is difficult for me. I feel that during my time there, i worked very hard, and went over and beyond on a daily basis. When i was hired on there i had the understanding that it would not be like amazon, which the longer i worked there it did become that way. And i handled it because i liked knowing that my customers were receiving there orders with happiness, quality and in an accurate and appropriate time manner. 

Working for Zulily has been a learning experience for me. It was a major change in work atmosphere for me. A typical day there is 10-12 hours depending on work load, and 4-6 times a week. We work alot of overtime to make sure that orders are shipped and received in a timely manner. The job itself is not hard, for the most part. Its the long hours that make it tough, but for the most part i enjoyed it. I loved my coworkers, and enjoyed getting to know so many wonderful people. The management tries to make things work able, but at times have a hard time because there isnt a lot of communication. We have gained so many new employees over the last 3 months that its almost hard to know who anyone is anymore. The company is growing, and thats good. I like the things that we pack and ship out, and i believe that the company itself and the owners or creators have a good heart and great idea, i just dont know that its being passed down to the manangement in the buliding. I do believe that my time has come to an end with this company, and i dont know that i would return.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant buyer 13 salaries reported	$56,077 per year
Senior software engineer 17 salaries reported	$162,730 per year
Software engineer 5 salaries reported	$139,400 per year
Associate buyer 4 salaries reported	$66,625 per year
Fulfillment associate 2 salaries reported	$19.53 per hour

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