Corporate has great work life balance; great place to settle down - Analyst CarMax Employee Review

4.0
12 Sept 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

(This is for the Home Office). The work life balance is excellent. There is a lot to learn and it is amazing how nice everyone is. Lateral rotations are encouraged to exercise flexibility, and allows you to broaden your skill set all within one company. Teamwork is heavily encouraged, and competition amongst your peers is refreshingly-discouraged. Management is caring, and there truly is an open door company. There are lots of team builders and corporate perks/events; the company just has a "fun" attitude. Very strong job security.

Cons

This is a company you want to "settle down" with... NOT one you want to further your career in. Because of the flat organization (at least at Corporate), there is very little room for upward mobility. The majority of people who come in either stay at their level, or may get promoted one level up max. Performance management is weak. You will find that people who should have been let go years ago, merely get a coaching and continue to be employed. It hurts morale, encourages employee complacency, and because excellent performance is rarely recognized materially (title, promotion or merit increase),your peers tend to settle for "average" performance. Base salary is uncompetitive compared to other area companies' equivalent positions - the company believes that the intangibles (company culture, work/life balance) more than make up for it.

Explore other reviews about CarMax

5.0
4 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing benefits with 6% 401k matching and tuition reimbursement.

Cons

Highly reliant on the quality of management at the store location.

4.0
13 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The perks of working at CarMax are quite extensive. Associates are offered an aggressive 401k program, Stock Purchasing Plan, in store discounts on sales and service, access to the CarMax Wholesale system, excellent healthcare, plenty of PTO, and at my location we are given as much OT as we want. My coworkers are generally good people, that I enjoy being able to work along side day in and day out. Management is very understanding in regards to calling out sick family emergencies, and schedule requests.

Cons

Despite doing the work of 5 people, and very politely asking for a raise management will not give me more than my 3% annual raise which is the single biggest let down. The bonus change of 2025 being labeled as "exciting" was straight corporate gaslighting unlike anything I've ever seen. Since the start of 2026, as of this review being written we have lost 7 associates largely due to pay, and I am soon to join those associates. Management from the store level up to corporate needs to understand that to retain their top performers they need to be compensated like a top performer. Some members of management are cliquey and moody which is very frustrating to deal with. Quality of Management varies wildly from store to store as well

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