Dow Chemical Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Growth opportunities, business stability, environmental friendliness, in-house skill development, experienced and trust based management, competative salary structures, good benefits.

Cons – Strong engineering based higher education preferences may sometimes filter capable and exceptional candidates from growth opportunities and valuable contributions in-house.

Advice to Senior Management – Seek out more exceptional and company dedicated employees within and promote a "reaching hand" philosophy to support them with less restricted tuition reimbursement and one-on-one coaching time with seasoned Dow managers and professionals to breed and foster the next generation of leaders and contributors. Some branches of Dow (including the microelectronics materials devision) require extensive long-term training and often carry a portion of tribal knowledge that is not easily substituted even with premium higher education studies. Allegro Microsystems Inc is a prime example of successfully investing in employees by means of in-house university training, mentoring, and promoting growth within (for the deserving candidates) resulting in an average employee tenure of over 5.5 years! Prior to outsourcing its Fab operations to China, Evergreen Solar's average employee tenure was only about 1.5 years. Investing up to 12 months of training (per employee) in learning a rather complex, yet very promising new String Ribbon Technology, but inability to create a Team oriented and mission based environment proved to be very costly for the company. Dow is much more mature in this aspect, and my only advice at the moment to our leadership is not to take any floor level employee feedback for granted, as change most often starts from "top down", yet its success is so reliant on how it is embraced, implemented, and respected from the "bottom up".

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – the flexibilty and work life balance are hard to beat, the pay is also wonderful, as well as the benefits

Cons – the company is so large that you are basically just an employee. The leadership usually isn't directly involved with your work and unless you are great at tooting your own horn, some accomplishments get overlooked. Also, that can be detrimental to career development and promotions.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus more on your OWN employees when jobs open up, don't go outside or use contractors. I have seen SO MANY contractors off the street get the job that was in my EDP for 4 years and that I had networked and worked so hard for. That is VERY heartbreaking to watch and surely does not improve employee morale.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – One of the best places I have ever worked. I cannot remember when I have been so happy to go to work for a company.

Cons – None I would not change anything about DOW

Advice to Senior Management – none

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – best job i have ever had there's room for advancements and everyone gets along work is equally divided no preference whats so ever

Cons – i have no cons to say about the company

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Dow Chemical

Pros – Great people with a can-do spirit. Dow has a reputation of overworking their employees, but this is not seen so much in Engineering Solutions. Engineering Solutions is perfect for someone looking to reap all the benefits of a large company, but still have a 8-5 job (very flexible on hours).

Cons – As a Civil Engineer there are not many opportunities for upward advancement. The only opportunities are to become a project manager, or to move into a non engineering role.

Advice to Senior Management – My only advice would be to the Engineering Solutions department to not try and be as competitive with other outside engineering companies because it takes away from the current employes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Dow Chemical is a very flexible workplace.

Cons – I don't see any real cons about Dow Chemical.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Dow has a good strategy for growth, strong talent base, and excellent safety record. In addition, you have a lot of choice for career growth and job changes are strongly encouraged.

Cons – Dow is very process oriented, which can slow down or make simple tasks cumbersome. It also may over value employee movement between businesses and positions. Job movement is good, but the way to advance is largely based on changing jobs. It makes it hard to develop experts in niche areas.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good work guiding the organization.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Well rounded development and global opportunities

Cons – Midland, Michigan is a quiet little town.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue the good work

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Interesting and challenge projects. Great opportunity for professional growth.

Cons – Forced ranking performance review system is the worst that a company can do for its employees, even for the top "5" performers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Dow Chemical

Pros – Focus is on safety - more safety - and more safety! If the job is not safe, it is not done! Sense of community within the site and team within the block.

Cons – Prior incidents have instilled a culture of check, double-check and triple check. For me, I like this but it may not be for everyone.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep doing what you are doing - your track record the over the last 5-7 years is outstanding and I think it will continue to excel in the future.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend