Sherwin-Williams Reviews

Pros

The leadership of the company is taking it in a great direction to be an industry leader for years to come.

Cons

Needs to look at technology to make the paint buying experience match the level of quality products.

Pros

Medical, dental and vision offered. Clean and safe environment. Pretty decent pay for work performed. Diverse workforce. Tuition benefits. 401(k) match.

Cons

Unless you have high enough GPA to make it into a management training program, be prepared for an arduous road to promotion. Few open positions for advancement, and individuals are often selected for promotion for reasons other than qualifications. In other words, it seems to be more of "who you know" rather than what you know.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop existing staff professionally. Offer cross-cultural mentoring programs. More objective promotions.

Pros

Good employee discount.
Got to learn hands-on how to run a business.
Hours were good. Schedule was flexible. Good pay.

Cons

Times when store was short staffed, but only had minimal budget to hire more part timers.
Upper management had their favorite employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't take your employees for granted. Loosen up your corporate control on the stores. Let the store management dictate how the store should be run and what inventory to carry (reduce the quantity of force ship items).

Pros

pay, opportunity for growth retail and factories

Cons

people who work in the factories cannot see jobs opening in the stores divsion

Advice to Senior Management

let sites in on desicions that well affect the site

Pros

Steady job, nothing more, nothing less.

Cons

The company will cut and slash employee hours at any time. In store managers must comply with micro-managing from corporate offices making work very difficult for employees

Pros

Good benefits package, compensation is relatively competitive with good bonus plan (dependent on the store however), well respected company

Cons

Hours cut which means less employees; at the same time, upper management continued to assign meaningless sales call goals and promotional activities that you had no time to do. 40% off sales at least once a month but not enough employees to assist during the sale. Price increases and lack of customer service (again to due hour cuts) just led to dissatisfied customers. The glamorized "Management Trainee Program" is just a way for the company to get a bunch of workhorses with college degrees to put in their stores. On a daily basis the job consisted of about 80% physical work - tinting paint, lifting, operating forklifts, etc. with very little time to actually manage (which is what I was told I would be doing when I was interviewed). Very little opportunities for advancement. Expect to work in the store for about 4 or 5 years on average and then get "promoted" to being a sales rep which is just another unrewarding job where you get to deal with more stress. Gave it a year, but couldn't come to terms with having a job that provided absolutely no intellectual stimulation. I didn't go to college to mix paint all day and get chewed out by completely irrational, overemotional, and psychotic customers.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more challenging career opportunities for college graduates with more options for advancement, establish more attainable/realistic sales goals for stores, let store management determine hours since they are the ones who know their store the best, not district or division management.

Pros

Flexible schedule, start with vacation time, health benefits, good management experience, opportunities for advancement, varied tasks, not a desk job

Cons

Weekends, holidays, retail environment with uneducated contractors, physical labor (50lbs+ not uncommon). A full truck to unload of pallets stacked with paint. Advancement is possible but takes longer than they let on.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't lie to college students. This job is not glamorous, don't make it seem like it. I have my marketing degree and thought I would be working in the marketing department at corporate within two years. This is more likely a possibility in eight+ years. They want to keep you on the sales track since that is how they make the most money.

Pros

Enjoyed fellow employees
Flexible hours
Good pay

Cons

Very little room to advance out of stores group
Lots of heavy lifting
If you're a girl, be prepared for feminist work comments
Received no performance feedback
"Intern project" is a joke
No work life balance for full time employees

Advice to Senior Management

Open your eyes and realize that your store employees are extremely over worked and slaving for this company. The HR department tries to make interns seem so important yet they are only a summer work fill in and receive no coaching. I wanted real life work experience, not tinting paint for 40 hours a week.

Pros

Good benefits, great job stability, good workout if your store is busy

Cons

Hours cut, sales call goals not dependent on quality but quantity, frequent price increases. Too focused on share holders and not employees and customer service, lazy managers who've all worked 10+ years, new and more company initiatives with no substance just to drive profit, upper management too disconnected from the store, budget increases but quality of work decreases b/c of part time hours cut, only 2-3% raise if you get one per year. The list could go on forever...

Advice to Senior Management

Work in a store for a week and deal with customers who WON'T pay.$60 for duration. And try getting sales calls, cycle counts, and massive orders done with only 2 employees in the store, you couldn't handle. And check the "smart" guys in marketing, a lot of wasteful and idiotic promos and products (that go obsolete) come in to stores ie crap like the shamwow

Pros

Great benefits, great debut to to retail environment, helpful upper level management, stock plan is great, job is easy once you know what you are doing

Cons

Slow process to promotions, must start at retail, customers are not the best to work with, training is tedious and elementary

Advice to Senior Management

Have a sales training program for quicker advancement, have more specialized business roles, integrate interns more with the sales representatives