Eastman Chemical Reviews

Pros

Family focus, nice people, caring

Cons

Lack of advancement, risk aversion, minimal performance culture

Advice to Senior Management

Believe Jim is taking Eastman in the right direction by focusing more on individual performance and accomplishment.

Pros

Have had a good experience working with Eastman. While it's not perfect, no place is. Company management has come a long ways, but it still has a ways to go, especially in the middle layers of management.

Cons

Raises and promotions don't always seem to be based entirely on merit, but on who you know. Merit plays an important role, no doubt, but so does knowing the right folks.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay away from mega projects - at least for now. If they fail (which is not entirely unlikely), they'll have a mega-way of hurting the company.

Pros

Nice location... thats about it...

Cons

Terrible management. Got laid off after 2 months of being hired. Management did a terrible job in identifying how many employees they actually needed to hire. Most, if not all, the new hires got laid off.

Advice to Senior Management

Plan ahead of time and make sure you really need the people you hire. Why go through all the effort of hiring someone (relocation included) and then laying them off? Says alot about your company's culture ... and it's certainly not good.

Pros

Provides good support for family situations. Better benefits for longer term employees but still good.

Cons

Limited opportunity for advancement and not a growth company.

Advice to Senior Management

Reinforce employees for new ideas.

Pros

Family culture for the most part was good and the employee benefits was above average for the area. Community relations is excellent.

Cons

Top heavy management that doesn't acknowledge the average working Joe's abilities and work ethic.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a lot of weight at the top and at most all upper management levels. Operations personnel are carring the weight of the company. Reward them more.

Pros

Eastman is in a good location. Promotional opportunities are ok. The company generally stays up to date on current technology.

Cons

I am not conficent that Eastman salaries are comparable nationally. The company thinks they are family oriented. I do not believe that senior management values people. They tend to take local people working there for granted. Kingsport is a one major employer town.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit spending like a drunken sailor and then telling employees we are in a recession and that cuts are inevitable.. Lots of landscaping and beautification when the company and the economy are tanking.

Pros

They take their co-op program very seriously. The plant site in Kingsport is very large so there is a wide array of opportunities for students to gain experience. Mentors and supervisors work hard at helping new employees become acclimated with the environment. You are allowed to work on meaningful projects that are challenging and exciting. Benefits are excellent for a co-op position. The company seems to take very god care of their employees, through encouraging them to improve their health and by allowing flexible work schedules. All of the employees are easy to work with and a joy to be around. Everyone is helpful and polite. Their commitment to safety is outstanding, you can be sure you will be safe as long as you are smart about doing your job.

Cons

Not much to say here, if you are OK with living in the middle of nowhere TN.

Advice to Senior Management

None.

Pros

Ability to grow in a stable corporate environment. East Tennessee is an incredibly nice place to live and raise a family. The cost of living is very low compared to most parts of the United States.

Cons

Eastman relies on its location to protect its workforce. Although the company claims to provide competitive pay for professional and management positions on a national basis, it does not. The same positions ofter pay better at competitors which reside in other geographies. Most people stay at Eastman for their entire careers, and Eastman develops really good people for management roles. Unfortunately, ability to obtain higher level roles is often a function of timing rather than a reflection on the individual's capability in the marketplace.

Advice to Senior Management

You need to take a tough look at your compensation practices. Really talented people have left the company due to not being offered advancement or meaningful increases (i.e. significantly above the cost of inflation). You also need to recalibrate the rewards system. Middle management is hesitant to give any awards over $500-1000 even when the accomplishments are worth millions.

Pros

The atmosphere is great; co-workers, flex time, etc are all wonderful.

Cons

Small town, but there are lots of "outdoor" recreational activiites.

Advice to Senior Management

Always solicit feedback from "the little people".

Pros

The company is secure financially and has implemented various measures to stay that way. The CEO, Brian Ferguson, makes it a point to send out communications to all employees advising on any effect on our company a Hurricane, or a wall street meltdown, will likely have. Most BU's have a "Family" feel to them as everyone seems to genuinely have an interest in how you are doing.

Cons

Eastman still has a somewhat "Good Old Boy" system of promotion. Openings get posted but for the most part the person who will fill the opening is prechosen, so the posting is meerly to appease the one's who will not be chosen. If one really wants to move up one must align themselves with fast movers and ride their coattails

Advice to Senior Management

To keep up the good work. 5 or 6 years ago this company was poised for a big fall, but through Brian's leadership the company is strong. The only changes I would look at would be some of the mid level management that keeps the good ole boy/buddy promotion system in tact.