Ingram Micro Reviews

Pros

Stable
Good Benefit Package
Great for non-ambitious indviduals
Looks good on your resume
Low margin business model

Cons

Pay is less than industry
Lots of Red tape due to politics
Unrealistic goals
Lack of real insight to partner business models
Promotions take a long time unless you are part of the "good ol boys"
Individual performance is not as important as internal relationships
Typical corporate politics that emphasizes the Ingram Way

Advice to Senior Management

Mid-Level manager agenda's and the supression of out side the box thinking and flexibility is whats going to hinder any growth for your company especially in an industry that quickly progresses and rewards companies who are agile and foresightful.

Pros

My group is very stable. Most staff have been around 10+ years.
Very friendly environment to work.
Management balance work/life and respect you personal needs.

Cons

Advancement is limited... can take years to be promoted.
Pay and benefit is a little less compared to industry.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work! Find good leaders that's IM oriented.

Pros

Good place to start out of college.

Cons

Lean environment. Unreasonable expectations. Limited growth opportunities for women. Need to be one of the good ol' boys.

Advice to Senior Management

More growth opportunities for women.

Pros

The people are really nice and down to earth, and you get all the free coffee you could want, which is great.

Cons

The hours are really long sometimes, depending on what's going on, and especially during the holiday season, which can be a drag.

Pros

The sales experience you aquire with the largest IT distributor.
The people you work with.
Work/life balance.
The vendor perks (from the vendor manufacturers, not Ingram Micro)

Cons

Unfortunately they keep taking easy way out every time IT industry gets into a slump by either laying off, eliminating some departments, outsourcing (which will eventually be the death of them) or restructuring the pay structure (which always seems to hit the pockets of the Sales people hardest).

Most of the good sales talent is long gone and what talent is left, most is waisted by transactional type work due to the company's sales department restructure blunder.

No incentive left to SELL due to lack of commissions and unreachable bonus structure. Though they still overpay management (which seems to be top heavy). It's outragious when you see the difference between what management makes and what sales makes. So unbalanced when you realize who really brings in their business.

Health benefits get worse every year. Cost of your co-pay, etc. By the time they take the health insurance out of your measly check (especially if you have Family plan), you wonder if it's worth it!

Constant worry of when your job will be outsourced which destroyed the moral.

Advice to Senior Management

Go back to the ways that brought the company to being Number ONE.
Take care of the talent you have left and do not take it for granted.

You need to stop hiring inexperienced "CHEAP" labor. You should know you'll get what you pay for ! You keep reminding your customers of that, maybe you should take heed also.

Listen to what your employees are saying or complaining about and REALLY do something about improving the problem instead of just making a note of it.

Pros

Pay was good, benefits were better than average. They do stay up on the latest technologies, but do not offer the opportunity for exposure to them.

Cons

Management should listen to employee's ideas and thoughts, needs MUCH more communication between employees and management. Management is not supportive of employees at all.

Senior Management has no clue on what they are doing, plays favorites with employees. They do not listen to employees suggestions, will protect each other's back no matter what the situation.

No initial training provided, then they penalize the employees for not knowing the system.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire managers that actually know what they are doing and have had actual experience in managing professional employees. Managers should be aware of human resources procedures and not just make things up.

Pros

The pay is good. Overall company is stable financially. Large 3PL clients with large volume.

Cons

Long hours, weekends and holidays all without notice are the bad. They say its their "culture", its not staffing appropriately.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase number of management staff to improve oversight and reduce burnout.

Pros

Ingram supports and encourages work life balance, it is always "us" and "we", never "I" nor "me". Ingram is upbeat and lively, there is a legitimate open door policy, pay is good, benefits are ok.

Cons

I think there is way too much red tape when it comes to selling our product or services. Some management might have been here too long. In some cases there needs to be a fresh perspective on what we do and how we do it.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure that all levels of leadership is echoing the same things from the top down. You have to figure out how to "unify" the strategic voice. Make sure that everyone understands the vision and catches hold to it.

Pros

The seniored employees are very helpfull and take pride in what they do and how well they do their job. The management staff is always willing to listen to you and offer suggestions to any question. This only applies if you like working overtime this is the place to work.

Cons

The pay is very low with little to no compensation for additional hours and weekends worked. The health benefits are very poor to say the least and are very expensive compared to other companies.
  If you like your holidays throughout the year and enjoy those 3 day weekends this is not the place to work. The larger Ingram Micro customer demands the warehouse to be staffed for the holiday weekends for there sales so Ingram Micro does, leaving some employees with only 1 day off for a 3 day weekend holiday. The only holiday that I can recall that was not worked in 2010 was Christmas Day.

Advice to Senior Management

To the management of the DC they do the best job they can with the tools given to them. It's the executives that are making these deceisions that are making this place a miserable place to work.
Understanding that customers need the merchandise in a timely manner a new plan needs to be formed or learn to tell Ingrams larger accounts that we have limits so that employees do not have to work 7-12 hour days from the beginning week of Thanksgiving up until the week of Christmas.

Pros

Ingram Micro offers great employees, and an atmosphere with many career advancement opportunities. Benefits like free lunches on training days and vendor sponsored concerts, sporting events and other event tickets is a huge plus!

Cons

East vs West coast battle for power and sustainability, jobs can move from coast to coast based on management shifts.

Advice to Senior Management

Management jobs do open up ocassionally, however with the soft job market in Buffalo long term job holding is observed.