Ingram Book Group Reviews

Pros

Ingram has done a good job of changing business practices to meet the needs of the time. This has really helped keep the company strong and vital and a major competitive force. They offer great benefits.

Cons

There have been a number of layoffs, however these were designed to keep the company strong. The pay is lower than some similar companies.

Advice to Senior Management

No advice. Communication seems good and everyone is working hard to keep the company vital.

Pros

The benefits are as good as most companies in comparison. Sick time for the hourly workers is very good in my opinion, where some companies only have sick or personal time for salaried employees.

Cons

I made the decision to work at Ingram mainly because of the Ingram name and the new challenges and opportunities that I believed came with the position. After a very short time I realized this was not the place for me and discussed my concerns to my manager, who was actually a pretty good person and also no longer works there, and he jokingly told me that I needed to be "Ingramized". Which actually turned out to be no joke. It basically meant that I needed to relinquish my integrity and morals and conform to their ways of management.

Integrity was one trait that upper management insisted that their employees have but, for the most part, it didn't apply to them. Upper management and certain supervisors taking lengthy smoke breaks/”meetings” repeatedly throughout the day and then reprimanding the lowly worker for taking a couple of minutes to talk to a fellow co-worker. Very little leadership by example. It was very much a "do as I say not as I do" attitude. Very poor communication from management to the warehouse workers. It was very much an atmosphere of arrogance and bullying from upper management and certain "privileged" supervisors. I witnessed managers and supervisors verbally reprimand and belittle employees on the floor in front of their co-workers. It was not so much a customer satisfaction way of operating but more of a numbers, bottom-line operation. And as far as H.R. was concerned, the head of the dept. definitely sided with upper management on every instance that I witnessed and seemed to make his own rules as he saw fit.

I am not a disgruntled ex-employee posting my gripe here to "get even"...but I am sincerely disgusted at the overall experience while employed there. Very insecure, amateurish upper management…as well as some of the self-promoting supervisors and leads.

Advice to Senior Management

Honesty, consistency, and good face-to-face communication is what most folks highly value from their managers. Never forget that the employee is the most valuable asset the company has and should be treated with respect...as you would want to be treated. Fully understand that just because someone is a warehouse worker doesn't mean that they have the intelligence of your average bovine. Some of these people are leaders or active members in their communities. Some have interesting hobbies or activities that require some intelligent thinking.
How about letting the employees give performance reviews on their managers and supervisors? This would obviously be very frightening to the insecure manager/supervisor but could prove to be a very useful tool if it was actually used in a constructive manner.

Pros

Benefits are good. Easy, casual dress code. There are a lot of great people there, even some in management, who do care about their job and they work hard at getting it done right the first time. Ingram has its own cafeteria and the fresh cooked food is good, the prices are reasonable, free coffee, and coke machines, icemakers and refrigerators on every floor. You can buy books and electronic media at a good discount.

Cons

There is not much structure or supervision at any level. Managers don't know what is going on the level below them or the level above. Chain of command is strange and people are moved into jobs they have no clue about. Office politics is rampant and totally incompetent people are getting promoted when other people in the department have been doing that persons work all along because the new mgr had no clue how to do it. Now they are your boss!

If you get on the wrong side of management you can kiss your job goodbye, maybe even before the next round of layoffs. Upper level management has no idea about things happening two or three levels below them, so the employees are not always given a fair shake. Too many people have protectors above them and can get by with almost anything.

If high level management would start digging around and gaining the peoples trust they might suddenly realize why the turnover is so high and so little work gets done. Holding people accountable for work they have done and making sure employees have the skill set required to do their job would be a great start. There are many, many people who have been employed there for 15-20 years who still can't perform their job correctly and others are doing their own work and then cleaning up the mess others have made.

Advice to Senior Management

For the Ingram name to be so highly thought of in Nashville it is amazing that the same can't be said for their companies and the way they are run. The only people who really know what is going on there are the worker ants. If top level management would start at the bottom and work their way up about three levels they would be amazed how much they could learn about what is really going on at Ingram. But to do that, one has to care about someone below them...way below them.

If high level management would start digging around and gaining the peoples trust they might suddenly realize why the turnovers are so high and why so little work gets done. Holding people accountable for work they are doing and have done and making sure employees have the skill set required to do their job would be a great start. There are many people employed for 15-20 years who still can't perform their job correctly and others have to do their own work and then clean up the mess others have made. Get rid of the deadwood that is not performing and recognize the ones that are. Put some focus groups together with people from all areas. Forget who you are and go to a meeting with an open mind. Listen to the complaints and also listen to some good suggestions.

Talking about making changes is cheap, actually making the changes will be worth every penny spent implementing them.

Pros

Excellent Benefits: Great Insurance Blue Cross Blue Shield, Decent amount of vacation time ~ starts with 2 weeks/sick days/personal days 2. A lot of great people still work at Ingram though we've lost many great ones.

Cons

Virtually impossible to move up within the company. HR is on the side of the executives and NOT on the side of the employees even when it's a clear cut case of discrimination

Advice to Senior Management

They prefer to hire outside the company instead of within.

Pros

Ingram offers a great healthcare benefits package for employees. Employees in the Ingram family of companies are eligible for an annual bonus if sales goals are met.

Cons

Ingram Book is known to reward and promote mediocrity while many hardworking, dedicated professionals over the past decade have been forced out of their job due to office politics, or have left the company due to the overwhelming stress and frustration caused by working extremely long hours, with zero recognition for their commitment. Communication between management and employees is nonexistent, yet employees are held accountable for un-communicated management objectives and project tasks. Silos exist between departments, and the term “thrown under the bus” is a common catchphrase as other groups deflect responsibility for a problem to you or your group. Employee turnover is high. I cannot recommend employment at Ingram Book, now known as Ingram Content.

Advice to Senior Management

Ingram Industries should end their detachment from Ingram Content and hold management accountable for the success of the business and to investigate areas of high employee turnover to determine if a root cause exists.

Pros

The employees here are, generally speaking, wonderful. So many of the employees have a true passion for books. The consistent access to free or discounted books is amazing. The author events are such a perk.

Cons

The Ingram family is extremely charitable in the community and have had a great reputation. I assumed that this was an honorable, genuinely good company... a company deserving of my respect. I was very wrong.

The senior level management and HR seemingly have no morals, integrity, respect for employees, or common sense. This company is going downhill fast, and the morale here is very low. I would never recommend this company to *anyone.*

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend to the Ingram family that they take a good look at the people with whom they have trusted their company and make some serious changes.

Pros

People are great, really nice; the atmosphere is not super-high-pressure; it's a very stable company, even though they've had layoffs in the past; lots of long-time employees (20 years or more)

Cons

Politics can be deadly, depending on which department you work in; benefits are so-so; salary increases and promotions are so-so and can depend on politics more than skills; very Nashville-centric culture, they don't acknowledge much that's outside the Nashville office

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the old guard.

Pros

Probally the benifets, Some people in the warehouse to have worked with.

Cons

That there are people waiting on you to fail to take your job, Only realize what you have done in the last month not the years you have put in, Getting nothing but excellent reviews and above excellent reviews
only to walk you out the door when you have medical issues. Managment having HR in there back pocket, Steeping up in your job to take responsibility on your own while company looking for supervisors
for your department several times only for them not to reconize what you have done.Duing a supervisors job on your own for years and the managment not to reconize that you have been running the department. Back to the reviews of getting a excellent review only to be walked out the door 2 months later with a reason that has no bearing on my job prformance.

Advice to Senior Management

Realize when someone is trying to take your job, And remember what a employee has done for years not the last 6 months due to health promblems.

Pros

They really believe from promoting from within... Almost to a fault though

Cons

Since they tend to recycle the same individuals throughout the company, the message gets stale. It is an extremely large private own company that has its own little quirks, and doesn't operate how you feel a company of its size would. The feeling is that management positions are handed out to the best kiss ass and not the most qualified.

Advice to Senior Management

I understand that you feel like you are qualified to be in your position, but ask yourself if you had to apply for another management position at another company...How would you view your chances? Most management at Ingram doesn't even have college education and it reflects in their management decisions. Their management style is antequated and uninformed.