McMaster-Carr Reviews

Pros

Benifits,Benefits,Benefits!! The starting salary was very good with annual bonuses and full medical from day one for the whole family. The work hours were very condusive for dropping the kids off at school plus no weekend work. They have an extremely high metric system of work performance that each employee needs to live up to, but if you can one could retire comfortably.

Cons

The monthly reviews were not neccessarily a downside because you knew exactly where your job performance level was but sometimes a supervisor would tell you one thing then hold you in a different light upon the numbers during review. One was never done being reviewed for job performance, so if you can live up to their expectations you are good to go.

Advice to Senior Management

When beginning ones carrer/job management should let you know everything counts from day one. Sometimes they would say "right now just do what you can and do not worry about the numbers" well I wish I did not listen to that and had tried to reach the required metrics earlier.

Pros

Benefits and salary are great....

Cons

This company lets you go the moment you speak up or try to defend yourself. They say you have unlimited sick days, but if you take more than 3 a year, you are let go. You are monitored from the moment you walk in the door until the moment you leave. Every phone call is recorded, the time you use the bathroom is recorded, your breaks are recorded. It is an extremely rigid, confining enviornment.

Advice to Senior Management

Positive reinforment would go a long way in keeping morale up. The negative only reviews make employees feel horrible.

Pros

Benefit package and hourly compensation
Fellow employees were good people (even though fear drove them to be dishonest)

Cons

Can be hard to endure physically if you consider yourself a hard worker
No opportunity for advancement
No job security (be prepared to be moved to another area)
You will be hazed and put to the test, and they can care less whether or not you like it
Benefits and compensation will be used as an excuse to justify why inhumane standards are enforced
I worked with people who had degrees in areas completely unrelated, however, they took the job for compensation purposes, However, it is not worth your labor and unethical standard.
Be prepared to brown nose, and if you don't, then you can prepare yourself for failure
If your disliked, you will not last (for whatever reason)

Advice to Senior Management

I was told after I resigned that I was a very hard worker. Upper management should pay more attention and that comes through genuine leadership who know and relay how you perform in an honest manner. You cant expect ivy league supervisors and managers to come in understanding how to lead. Leadership takes experience not a piece of paper. Hold managers to ethical standards in how they conduct business. Never judge a book by it's cover but take time to know who your working with.

Pros

Pay,benefits,CPS, tuition reimbursement..They have a very nice building that has a nice cafeteria.

Cons

The reviews are so off base that I have had to read mine twice to make sure it was mine.I have heard from friends that they had nothing but negative things to wright. Not one mention of the many good things that you did. Makes you feel like you will never do anything right. But I guess that is the idea. Don't like it there is the door.

Advice to Senior Management

I know were the door is. THEY COULD GIVE A RATS A@#-....

Pros

Salaries and benefits are like none other for the type of work done here. Lots of smart people with interesting and diverse backgrounds.

Cons

McMaster has a very conservative/stalwart approach to doing business that has helped them survive for over 100 years. While this would be fine alone, they also recruit highly ambitious/forward thinking candidates for all aspects of the company, but most notably for their management path. As a result, there is often a clash between candidates who believe that their ideas can help the company grow and the company's resistance to change. Most get frustrated and leave, resulting in a fairly high turnover rate.

Advice to Senior Management

For the most part, I think the company knows what it is doing. Although I am one of the many who left because we were not a match, I get the business model. I do, however, think that the company is too easily seduced by labels (e.g. top tier institutions). Perhaps they may find employees who will stick around for the long haul by looking at the top talent at second tier institutions, for many of these students could have easily gone to an ivy, but chose not to because of, among other things, finances or family obligations, not unlike the very things that keep many their current employees there.

Pros

Benefits are second to none, nice work environment, good work-life balance, nice perks such as tickets to sports and cultural events.

Cons

Zero job security - don't be fooled, it is true they have never had a lay-off, because when they decide they don't need you anymore, they will blatantly lie on your reviews and let you know that your job is in jeopardy. You will then either leave on your own because of the horrible new environment, or you will eventually get fired because you were "not meeting expectations". I am not a disgruntled ex-employee, but someone who has seen first-hand how this company can destroy your life based only on the whim of one person.

Advice to Senior Management

Try and see the true value in your employees. If an exemplary employee all of a sudden starts getting awful reviews, investigate to see if the accusations are founded or if a supervisor/manager is out to get that person for some reason.

Pros

Benefit pkg, bonuses & profit sharing, and salaries are all exceptional. Coworkers are all very nice and care about the community and others. Community Service is the thing to do for employees. Have a chef in the onsite cafeteria. Some managers (non-md) are wonderful people to work under.

Cons

If you aren't in the mgmt development program it is very hard to be promoted. People who know less than you and just graduated will be put in mgmt positions over workers who are more qualified.

Advice to Senior Management

Value all employees not just mgmt development participants. Work at increasing morale around the office. It does not make an employee feel good to work with tons of people who hate their jobs.

Pros

The pay and job benefits are great as long you can stay around long enough to earn things like deferred profit sharing and profit sharing

Cons

They fire people all the time, so job security is an issue.

Pros

The pay is very good and there is a good work like balance for this company. Great location in chicago

Cons

There is little room for improvement in your own.

Advice to Senior Management

They need to respect people more

Pros

Started in the warehouse in college with the hopes and expectations of moving up. Worked hard, kept my head down, did what was asked and respected Management.
Moved up within the company and did the same thing. Voiced my goals during review time and as long as I worked hard, proved myself a worthy employee, they kept moving me up and around within.
If you are one of these types of workers who appreciates the benefits given to you that you cannot and will not receive anywhere else, prove that you have the ability to grow WITH the company, be innovative, and cooperate with management, then they will work with you and continue to encourage you.

Cons

I have dealt with some less desirable people on the management team and soon realized that they had more ivy league ideas and didn't last long. Bad managers never last long there.

Advice to Senior Management

Only those that were not willing to work hard and do the job, are those that complain.