Direct Supply Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Direct Supply full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Passionate caing team of people, great culture, as a member of middle management I get great support from upper management, Partners are driven to offer great customer service and a great customer experience, Partners are empowered to to what's right for the customer, great benefits,

Cons – Pay for some positions could be higher. It's not as low as others reviewing would have you believe. I've been working in same field for over 20 years and have a good knowledge of compensation in my discipline and the compensation is right oi line.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to keep Partners informed and continue to try to innovate

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Looks OK on your resume...good place to learn day-to-day business protocol & etiquette...good training programs...provides the organizational structure that young inexperienced professionals need to learn in order to survive in the real world

Cons – Pay. After you invest multiple days of interviews for any position (my initial hire interviews lasted five+ days and with over 12 people) you will get a disgustingly low-ball offer. Of course, after investing that much time and hope into earning the position, most people take the job hoping that they can prove themselves and earn a fair pay raise over time. Not so much the case. The pay that they offer and any subsequent opportunities for raises or pay increases associated with any internal promotion are a straight-up joke.

They demand a huge amount of output (expect no less than a 50-hour work week) and inflict an incredibly unhealthy amount of stress in return for what they pay.

This company puts a lot of effort into marketing themselves as a company that only hires the cream of the crop - and will demonstrate how hard-core their screening/hiring process is - only to fall flat on their face when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is.

Advice to Senior Management – A good question to ask yourselves today would be "where would we be right now if we had kept all the great people we lost over the years by stepping up to the plate with that 2 or 3% salary increase needed to retain talent?" - I can guarantee you that this company is shooting itself in the foot by being so cheap.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great culture and great partners. A fun place to work. Very casual and laid back and it's nice you can bring your dog to work.

Cons – The salaries are terrible and they put a lot of time and money into hiring good people, but don't compensate them well or pay them better to stay. There has been a lot of turnover due to the low salaries alone and the company seems unwilling to pay more even though it's a very financially sound company.

Advice to Senior Management – There are a lot of great people working for you, don't lose them solely over $$.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Direct Supply full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Positive, driven culture open to new ideas and challenges to status quo for the sake of the business. Partners take their ownership in the company seriously and act accordingly.

Cons – Small company growing to mid has some growing pains as a culture as well as throught leadership at times. Actively working to increase maturity of organization, however it's work in progress.

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – CEO Bob is very passionate about the industry and the company. He is the backbone of Direct Supply and when he eventually steps down, expect a mass exodus of others leaving as well. The company stands on his laurels and reputation within the industry and will suffer a great loss when he is no longer associated with Direct Supply. No one else on executive team or senior leadership is poised to step in and be as respected or as well-liked as he is, from a customer or internal perspective.

Other pros: the people, fun "perks" that some discussed (unlimited free soda and popcorn, lots of small celebrations, dogs at work, remote partner policy, flexible work schedule) and lots of opportunities for people to get promoted as the company is growing.

Cons – Salaries consistently low, especially for those being promoted from within. This is called out as the number one problem every year on employee satisfaction surveys, but nothing is ever done to fix this. Terrible accountability throughout the organization, especially in middle management. Cannot hold anyone to doing anything and there are zero consequences for those that don't follow through. Constant restructuring and when corporate goals aren't reached, they are not talked about again as if they never existed.

Cons within marketplace: Direct Supply expects that their superior customer service will always rule the day with customers and guarantee the win. in this tough economic environment, customers are willing to give up a little customer service in order to get a product at a better price through a competitor. Direct Supply refuses to accept this reality and continues to sell a premium product in a cost-conscious market and supports suppliers who are often not great partners to them in return.

Advice to Senior Management – Bring in more senior leaders who are innovative and can help preserve the culture which is quickly crumbling under new leadership. Promote people fairly and not based on affiliation with the "boys club" culture which is very pervasive.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than a year

Pros – Serve the seniors of America. Fun place to work. Employees contribute to community causes. Lots of little perks and celebrations. Company hires talented employees who work hard.
Employees must demonstrate Ambition, Brains, Character and Drive (ABCD).

Cons – Execs must have pretty high guaranteed pay regardless of their results. There should be a lot of opportunity to have great achievements here, but you can't accomplish much due to changing priorities, roadblocks, poor decisions, lack of resources for solid execution. No trust of middle management has led to loss of great talent.
Are executives showing Ambition, Brains, Character and Drive?

Advice to Senior Management – I guess executive management is very happy with things. As long as they are achieving their personal financial goals, they won't change anything for the company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The people are excellent to work with. Lots of long lasting relationships can be built. Great place for a young person starting a career. Great benefits and on the job perks.

Cons – Terrible for growth and management creates toxicity by having low integrity and the inability to be consistent or trustworthy.

Advice to Senior Management – Reduce the size of staff management, increase the empowerment level of employees and quit being scared of turnover

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Direct Supply full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The "culture" is locally famous. The CEO wants you to enjoy being at work and motivate you to work as a team.

Cons – While the culture is nice at times, it's just too much for the workplace. Many people get too distracted by the loose standards. The business has little organizational structure, which helps to define the culture and is nice when things are going well. But, when you have an HR question or other issue, the lack of structure really hurts. The company will not back you up if you need something, and may make promises that never happen. Also, this creates an environment where there are no standards nor consistency. When something goes wrong, there is a lot of finger pointing rather than someone being accountable, and then moving forward to make it better for the future. In one word, it's a bit of a "mess."

The company is also very young, which is encouraging for young professionals, but the younger leadership with no outside experience also contributes to the "mess" previously noted. Some really deserve to be in their positions, whereas others were just lucky to have started there as interns and have been there for 10 years during the company's big growth spurt, and hence were moved up because they were a big fish in a small pond. Many of the younger leaders have big egos and little experience that managers at other companies have.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to look outside the company to bring in more diversity and experience.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Direct Supply full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – CEO is passionate about the industry and wants the company to grow.
Work with fun people who really want to serve the customer. We have a lot of fun.
Free gym. Good hours. Family-friendly. Flexible schedules.
Lots of UWM, Whitewater, MSOE grads.
Despite recent changes, this is an easy place to work.

Cons – Slow moving organization.
Tough place to be a leader. Not much license. Those geared for achievement feel their hands are tied. Experienced hires can get frustrated and find the revolving door.
Favorites- Some started in the early days. Some came more recently, report into CEO but have no direct reports. Hard to break into the family, but once you are in you are set. Very few women and minorties in leadership.
Culture is changing in some departments. Not sure where it's going.

Advice to Senior Management – Be honest about growth and figure it out. Get us out of the rut.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Direct Supply full-time for less than a year

Pros – Fun place to work, great for recent graduates.

Cons – Pay is poor, many of the people in leadership positions are too young and unwilling to make big decisions to move the company forward

Advice to Senior Management – na

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend