Andersen Windows Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Good manufacturing environment
Opportunity to work in many different areas
Good people

Cons

Pay and benefits are poor
Culture is changing from trusting and sharing to distrust and greed

Advice to Senior Management

Management struggles to make decisions
Disconnect between upper management and manufacturing

Pros

More than willing to spend money on making a better product

Cons

Slow in making personnel decisions and often miss the boat on implementing cost saving measures that would benefit the company.

Pros

Treated very well, and appreciated the people I was working with.

Cons

Lower pay than other options.

Pros

The associates are great people and are doing more with less. Hopefully they will be rewarded for their efforts. X

Cons

The company has completely moved away from the values that Andersen has stood for. Hopefully there will be a company left when the economy picks up.

Pros

Work/life balance
Good People to work with
Profit sharing during good years in housing market
Best company in the industry
Great location

Cons

Entrenched leadership
Low turnover equals low opportunity for advancement
Management to operator relationship is poor
Cliques form in management, play favorites at times

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to invest during housing downturn. Upgrade IT systems and junk some legacy systems and programs that don't work. Focus on quality and customer experience.

Pros

The pay is very decent. As a seasonal employee, I got almost a dollar raise every year. Almost every one of my supervisors was a pleasure to work for. Many of my coworkers were great to work with, if I'd take the time to actually get to know them. The hours were very steady, and overtime was often available when orders were up. Despite the areas management is lacking, if you aren't afraid to ask people around you questions and you aren't afraid to be be a little clueless the first time around on a job, you'll do just fine! The biggest reason why people hate their job or quit is because they got stressed out. Exhibit the desire to learn and work hard, and you'll be rewarded for it.

Cons

There were no benefits, and taking time off work was not often possible. You are frequently thrown around from job to job, presumably to be more useful for multiple positions in the "streamlined" work force. It can be stressful, because the training process is usually shrunk from one week to one hour, and you're left all alone to figure it out for yourself. Let's face it. There is no real training process!

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more people to distribute the work load. In my humble opinion, "streamlining" has gone too far, and the point will come when employees will snap and there will be an adverse effect in the workplace. I think Andersen Windows has a very solid product offering; but the inside scenery is changing for the worse. It's becoming less and less of a place from which employees want to retire.

Pros

Feedback through 1-on-1's, location, good management in most areas, ability to move and be promoted.

Cons

Base salary is about average, current unknowns regarding industry performance.

Advice to Senior Management

None at this time

Pros

1. Fair pay and excellent benefit package
2. Work Life balance

Cons

1. Used to be a Company that had Magic around the culture, now it is all gone
2. Extensive lay-offs but left all the worthless ones behind that the executive team brought on board
3. Huge issues amongst executive team on getting along filters down into the ranks

Advice to Senior Management

Take a history lesson on what made Andersen the great Company it was, you've sucked all the magic out of the place. There was so much value in the culture but you didn't see that.

Pros

1. Good life and work balance
2. Good bonuses most years
3. Good opportunity for advancement
4. Fun environment to work in

Cons

There are a lot of the older office staff that is allowed to do minimal tasks and continue to make good money.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to do performance reviews and work to improve or remove the low and no performers. These people are widely known by their coworkers and are not hard to find.

Pros

If you are hoping for additional schooling,they will pay up to $5000 per year. The pay is average to other production companies.

Cons

- Older experienced managers are replaced with young inexperienced college graduates.
- Their management style is to find the hard worker on a team and bombard with extra duties. No bonus or promotional options if you pick up the extra load.
- Cutbacks have left remaining workers scrabbling to get work done by the end of the day. This does interfere with lunch and 10 minute breaks. Management looks down on you if you take a full break.
- The boys club is alive and well. If your a young male, you will promote quickly and have less work then female counterpart.
- Pay is based on profit sharing so your salary fluctuates. True hourly pay is less. Profit sharing was eliminated this year.
- Insurance doesn't rate high compared to similar companies of this size.

Advice to Senior Management

You can work associates up to a point before it starts impacting quality. Treat everyone with respect not like a warm body completing a task.