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Newell Rubbermaid
3.2 of 5 156 reviews
www.newellrubbermaid.com Atlanta, GA 5000+ Employees
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Newell Rubbermaid Reviews

Updated May 16, 2013
All Employees Current Employees Only

3.2 156 reviews

                             

70% Approve of the CEO

Newell Rubbermaid President, CEO, and Director Michael B. (Mike) Polk

Michael B. (Mike) Polk

(46 ratings)

60% of employees recommend this company to a friend
156 employee reviews
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  • Disapproves of CEO

3 people found this helpful  

Charlotte, NC

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 8 years

ProsTalent- there are a lot of amazing and talented people working for this company.

Cons• Slow (no) growth. Inconsistent career opportunity from department to department- certain departments flourish, others are completely flat.
• Weak business strategy- leadership team makes many short sighted decisions to deliver short term gains (the annual sales goal), with little to no long term benefit.
• Lack of discipline and focus- the leadership team has lost the ability to prioritize opportunities and focus resources. Instead, they chase after everything, stretching resources way too thin.
• CONSTANT restructuring for certain teams (ie the brand team). Very few people stay in the role for more than a year, 2 years at most.
• Choking on process. The corporate structure has overly complicated just about every process with formality and inefficient tools (aimed at "saving money"). in some cases, it takes HOURS to get something done that was once a 5 minute task. Painfully over complicated.

Advice to Senior ManagementStop moving people around. Keep people in a role for more than a year. if you MUST move people around, make sure to transfer the knowledge. Stop chasing EVERY sales opportunity and prioritize your business objectives- maintain disciplined to the plan. Start recognizing your strong talent and make an effort to retain it. A LOT of strong talent has been lost over the past 6-12 months.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Ogden, UT

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than a year

ProsAwesome product line, great people who are passionate about the work that they do make this a fun place to work for.

ConsMid to senior level management are not reacting well to challenges in the business and the result has been a lot of micromanagement and decisions that make it difficult for employees to work to their full potential.

Advice to Senior ManagementStep back, let us work, and lead us - don't just manage us.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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3 people found this helpful  

Atlanta, GA

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 7 years

ProsGreat brands in a bunch of different categories from tools to cookware to baby gear to writing and more!
JEANS everyday (just announced it this week - right from the CEO!!)
Relatively new CEO is a game-changer. We are starting to understand the new focus and new pace and he is also really focused on outcomes vs. process and powerpoints
Great people that really do want to win
Some pockets of great culture/environment/dynamic (and as usual some opportunities in certain areas too)
Starting to get in a better rhythm around communicating what is going on and when

ConsNeed to figure out and follow through on the things that we can stop doing with the new strategy
Still too much focus on process stuff in certain areas.
Still not great at moving talent across groups

Advice to Senior ManagementThe strategy seems right so let's go there fast and keep the employees posted as we make changes, strides, have challenges etc.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Winchester, VA

Former Employee – worked at Newell Rubbermaid as a contractor for less than a year

ProsThere are no pro's. Unless your living in your car and this is the last job you can get.

ConsHad to go in with a temp agency first. While there you will be treated like your easily replaced with NO value. Training is close to not there but you are expected to preform like you have been there all your life. Just so anyone reading this thinks I don't know what I'm talking about I worked there for 16 YEARS before leaving. I have never been in a company that is run this poorly and still in business.

Advice to Senior ManagementI'm not going to bother with advice you won't listen anyway.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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Atlanta, GA

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 7 years

ProsLargely passionate personnel / nice amenities at Corp office / flexible work hours and truly attempt to encourage a work - life balance / restructuring with new CEO actually took out a large chunk of senior managers - unheard of!!!!! / direction of new CEO is good - I like where he's trying to take us / the global nature of the company and breadth of GBU's mean a good number of opportuinties for growth

ConsAtlanta traffic is horrid / all managers are not wise in the ways of designing and producing innovative products, and I am not sure that they are making the right personnel choices / some of these folks are unfriendly, agressive jerks / the political nature of the corporate office may be more widespread than I've recognized / the current climate of layoffs and change have made it easy for too many strong resources to leave

Advice to Senior ManagementFollow through on Mike's direction and listen to your people at all levels

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Atlanta, GA

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than a year

ProsYou are allowed to go home at some point in the night.

ConsLow pay, terrible upper management, product pipelines are very weak. Very dark place to work.

Advice to Senior ManagementUpper management wouldn't listen to any advice but if they did I would recommend they resign and get out of the way of progress. Too many managers afraid for their job so they promote milk toast yes people with not an original idea in their wildest dreams.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

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Exton, PA

Former Employee – worked at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 7 years

ProsThe culture at NW is very strong and inviting. Everyone I have ever come across has been extremely dedicated to their job, making it a great place to not only work but learn and grow in my own career.

ConsI have no real cons. I really enjoyed my role and would work for them again if the opportunity arose.

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Atlanta, GA

Former Employee – worked at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than a year

ProsGood health benefits, nice office space (new), and great employee perks (company store). Flex time in summer was also a great perk.

ConsOverall low pay, below market. Would say benefits made up for the low compensation.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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Oakbrook Terrace, IL

Former Employee – worked at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 7 years

ProsGood brands with ability to invest in brand building
Good training
Interest in consumer research to better understand the consumer
Good people
Competent management
Ability to grow with the organization

ConsMany upper management changes lead to a cascade down of personnel changes
Consolidation of business units led to job loses due to restructuring

Advice to Senior ManagementContinue to grow and promote empolyees so that they can continue to add more value to the organization.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

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Atlanta, GA

Current Employee – been working at Newell Rubbermaid full-time for more than 3 years

ProsBeautiful Corporate office offering wonderful amenities - on site gym, on site daycare, great cafeteria with many food choices offered, company store where you can purchase products are half off retail, free products when you participate in a focus group, Starbucks Cafe on site , not to mention free coffee and sodas on every floor!

ConsCompany is very pollitical. How far you get depends on who you know and socialize with. Process for employees and managers to complete performance appraisals is extremely labor intensive. It can be hard to find a good balance between work and personal life because of all the demands.

Advice to Senior ManagementCome down from your Ivory Tower and get to know your employees.

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