Arrow Electronics Reviews

Pros

Hands off management style allows flexibility in job.

Cons

Leadership is seemingly interested in retirement vs. making the company better. Someone has to die or leave in order for you to get promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Clean house, new blood, new concepts - challenge the status quo.

Pros

they offer decent vacation compared to other companies. they do acquire smaller companies to gain customers. they are expanding into Asia.

Cons

they will support outsourcing their IT positions to people who cannot do the job needed. they will look only at the cost savings in the short term instead of long term IT support domestically.. they have lost a lot of knowledgeable people in their IT groups, in trade for India cheapness.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not get rid of your IT groups! if India must be used, please use them for nighttime or afterhours support. we've lost too many good people and much experience.

Pros

company is relatively stable financially; compensation is surprisingly good, benefits are OK; if you like drudgery and a pressure-cooker environment, Arrow is for you!

Cons

clueless management; all blame flows downhill, all credit for successes stop at your manager's door; while the company's finances are stable, the future looks grim - not the kind of place where a young person wants to stay.

Advice to Senior Management

stop blaming your employees for short-comings in your strategy. consider recognizing hard-working, non-management employees; look for a strategy other than cost-cutting.

Pros

Work is steady and the company is large enough to keep growing.

Cons

Benefits keep shrinking, average time off and lots of extra hours expected from employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Cut costs in other ways such as using video conference instead of flying. Upgrade and automate partner portals to web based systems to reduce the cost of service.

Pros

Company with breath of opportunities and excellent management team. Room for personal initiatives and leadership.

Cons

Typical slowness of large company, Canada report to the USA with minimal impact.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow for more rapid execution around on good ideas, have a better defined career plan for top contributors.

Pros

Good run organization as a whle

Cons

Advancement was limited or interal employees

Advice to Senior Management

Understand the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitude of employees. Arrow employees some very smart human capital

Pros

Team work - some really good team members who boost your confidence
Work place is hygienic

Cons

Work Environment - is not suitable for professional growth, technology wise it does not keep up with the trend in the sense after a point of time there is nothing new to learn and grow.
Management - is horrible in the sense there is a ladder hierarchy and people on the top level have no idea about the bottom level.
Management is old - lots of people in their mid 50's - 60's, they dont accept innovative ideas or solutions.

Advice to Senior Management

Management need to hire new and young talent in the industry, otherwise its going to be difficult for the company to keep up with the competition.
Especially the IT management needs a complete renovation.

Pros

Overall, it was a great experience working for Arrow ECS until all the changes happened within the last 2 years. Arrow ECS really invests in their people and management has always been supportive.

Cons

Oracle takes over Sun Microsystems and the Alternative Technologies aquisition was very challenging to some of the peers I know.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is always supportive to the employees. The communication between floor managers has always been open and useful but upper management tends to distance themselves from employees.

Pros

40 hours a week ("salary" + commission based), possible to not take work home at night (baggage) if you can not let things bother you, excellent benefits (401K, Health, etc).

Cons

Upper management seems to have no idea when they roll out changes how it will effect their employees (no idea what we do or how much we do), general lack of financial care for the well being of their employees (cost of living wage increases, merit, etc), and glass ceiling with regard to career advancement unless you play the corporate roll.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership seems to not have the best interest of their employees as a priority.

Pros

Flexible working conditions with a good measure of local autonomy.
Good level of teamwork within departments and among groups that need to work together.
Clear communications from management.

Cons

Decline in morale due to benefit reductions and irrational cuts.
Greater emphasis on the bottom line than on improving services to customers and out-thinking the competition.

Advice to Senior Management

Leading from the middle sounded nice, but never meant anything realistic. More ambitious competitors have been making investments that are taking advantage of your weakness and have won the best customers away from your systems business. Growth is possible, but only if you can keep your strongest employees. Fix the benefits and incentives to keep them from leaving (or draw some of them back in -- since a number have recently left on their own). Too many job cuts in the last year have been driven by numbers without a plan for remaining competitive.