GrafTech International Reviews

Current Employee – been working at GrafTech International

Pros – management doesn't know what is going on so gives you plent of time to yourself

Cons – customers are an ofter thought for Graftech,

Advice to Senior Management – learn what a customer is

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at GrafTech International full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Can't think of one now.

Cons – Very poor benefits to most employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Get more involved on the floor.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at GrafTech International full-time for more than a year

Pros – work environment looks ok and people are friendly

Cons – Unresponsive even to internal job applicants

Advice to Senior Management – none

Current Employee – been working at GrafTech International

Pros – The work can be challenging.
Many of my peers are enjoyable to work with.

Cons – Benefits are terrible except for perks offered to upper management.
The company appears to lack a true visionary at the helm.
Many of the managers seem to have gotten their positions through connections to senior management and not due to ability.
Many managers will take credit for their employees work to greatly advance their own careers while throwing the employee a bone to keep up performance.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop trying to find a magic business plan in the book of the month and use your own innovation and ideas to create a successful company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at GrafTech International

Pros – It is close to my home and my daughters can stay in the same schools. The pay rate is reasonable even though the benefits are poor.

Cons – People trying to build little empires - Some managers that think they know everything about everything - Lack of respect for employees - Too many people that are going through the motions

Advice to Senior Management – Try to do something for a reason other than it will line your pockets. The board siphons off so much cash with their constant stock options it borders on blatant greed.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at GrafTech International

Pros – Day to day work was challenging, with new projects and business areas providing ample opportunities for significant contributions and recognition. Management supportive of work/life balance.

Cons – Benefits (retirement, health care) were slashed as the company struggled a number of years ago, in spite of management promises to maintain these for established employees and retirees.

Advice to Senior Management – Leadership is not just decision-making. It is also about your employees knowing that they will be treated at least as well as investors. Respect. Honesty. Commitment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at GrafTech International for more than 7 years

Pros – If you have a corporate role you will have a fair amount of international networking, my advice is to take advantage of that, add it to your resume and move forward in another direction.

Cons – Poor middle management, mostly conformed by unqualified people, there are very few managers who really stand up for their subordinates or have the minimum leadership skills and experience to be in front of a team, the rest of they just play along and play dead.

Most of the top management positions belong to senior employees which have been in the company for over 20 years and don't seem to have the intention of retiring in the short term, at the same time, only a few departments in the company are experiencing an organic growth, things rarely move at the worldwide branches and when they move they do so very slow in a highly politicized environment.

Individual departments / divisions work in silos, generally, corporate initiatives lack the proper executive support and you end up swimming against the tide in the clogged bureaucratic system that's fostered by those at the helm, for instance: facilities in Mexico and Russia are below expectations ( considering all the other locations), and doesn't seem to be any interest from local management to improve them.

A missinformation atmosphere reigns worldwide, corporate and strategic goals are not communicated throughout the whole company and they reach only middle management whom very often keep them only to themselves, departmental and individual goals are not aligned to achieve these, and when not met, employees in operational functions are held liable with little to nothing of management's accountability, these are common practices in the organization.

Very often, the job is not matched to people skills and , you got very capable people working on filling up an Excel Spreadsheet for the rest of their careers, and have unqualified people doing a poor job that would be fit for the qualified ones. If you ask to be moved, get ready to get frustrated, your career can stall in here, you run the risk to remain for years strapped to the same spot, having most varied excuses for not getting moved / promoted / raised salary.

Advice to Senior Management – Renew your top management, allow talented people with fresh ideas and enthusiasm to develop and propel the company.

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 GrafTech International full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – I have a job that pays about 80% of the industry average.

Cons – Every one reports within a silo of function and information. IT systems for reporting are non existant. Senior management is extremely self serving with absolutely no long term plan except to figure out ways to pay themselves at the expense of shareholders and employees.R&D is not connected to the business plans and is way too small to support growth.

Advice to Senior Management – Get a board that is experienced enough to create a succession plan and get rid of the existing CEO

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 GrafTech International

Pros – They pay in USD and speak english...sometime.

Cons – Everything else. Unfortunately, there are no signs of intelligent life in this organization. They are no business or financial systems to manage with, no strategic plan, no sustainable operations network or selling process. Its an organization run by R&D and accountants with no business experience.

Advice to Senior Management – Business classes....

Former Employee – worked at GrafTech International

Pros – The pay and bonuses were good and the technical staff is conscientious and a pleasure to work with.
The work is challenging and interesting.

Cons – Benefits are horrible for a company of this size.
Some members of management are not to be trusted under any circumstances.
Employees are not treated with respect by some levels of management.
Recognition and appreciation are hard to come by at some technical levels. When pictures are taken to honor groups for achievement it looks more like a roundup of the "usual suspects". Sometimes technical staff that helped to develop products are not even invited.

Advice to Senior Management – Upper management needs to take a closer look at the way lower level managers operate and not just give them a pass because they make good yes men.
Let employees share in the company success in a more equitable manner than bonuses that are controlled by "manager's disgression".
Change the attitude that, "If good things happen it's because of great management - If bad things happen it's the rank and file employees fault."

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend