Spectrum Brands Reviews

Pros

- Excellent Communication
- Good Salary
- Friendly Co-workers

Cons

- Can be political at times
- Need to have better career development paths
- Cold in Madison

Advice to Senior Management

Take time to ask employees for suggestions regarding internal processes.

Pros

Money if you hit bonus.
Exposure to many aspects of the business.

Cons

Very poor development process.
Flat organization equals minimal growth opportunities.
Will be interesting to see if corporate strategy is sustainable.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit leading by fear and give employees exposure to long term plans.

Pros

Great brands, wonderful co-workers, diverse work environment

Cons

Constant fear of downsizing, upper management has no regard for employees. CEO seems to actually despise the workers. Off color jokes by CEO are unprofessional and degrading to employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Start treating employees like human beings.

Pros

Great Job! Worked in big box retailers merchandising line of weed and pest control products. lots of latitude in work hours with a chance to use your ability to improve product sales and inventory turnover. I was responsible for 19 stores with minimal management presence or direction. Pay was decent but no benefits.

Cons

Not enough hours available in weekly schedule to get things done. Was only provided 20-30 hours a week to work 19 stores and with windshield drive time between stores was not able to visit every store on a frequent schedule

Advice to Senior Management

Give people more time to complete projects within the stores. With 20 stores it is hard to visit each store to complete the required tasks at hand

Pros

Free batteries, free parking, a lot freedom

Cons

Culture of constant fear, no support, no communication

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people like human beings

Pros

Good work/life balance. Good middle management. Challenging work.

Cons

Spectrum Brands has poor employment stability.

Pros

- It is theoretically possible to triple bonus (if you meet a ton of requirements and they don't use the non-payout clause to keep it from you)
- You do EVERYTHING....not just your job, giving you lots of different experience

Cons

- Management is very short-sighted and not open to discussion/feedback
- Nowhere to go....be happy with your first position because there most likely won't be any promotions
- Culture of fear, all the way to the top. There wasn't a time that the CEO spoke where he didn't threaten to fire everyone or talk about all of the people he has fired
- The first thought whenever management isn't happy is who to fire. At many points of time, everyone on the team will be a possible target for termination regardless of performance. And there will never be any sort of conversation/feedback on opportunity areas.
- You will never do enough, even when you have big wins. You can double sales, but management will want to know why you didn't quadruple them.
- You can't ever tell the truth because it's not what management wants to hear.
- Be prepared for constant fire drills, most of which make no sense and just create a ton of extra work for no reason
- No work/life balance. You are expected to work on holidays, vacation, nights, weekends, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people. They were hired in to do a job, let them do it. Sometimes they actually have good ideas/know what they are talking about.

Pros

Interesting work and great people at my plant site. Opportunity to be involved in the business. Hopefully better Parent Company relationship after Chapter 11.

Cons

Arrogant Parent Company management that did not value years of expertise that many employees brought to the business. Struggling financial situation.

Advice to Senior Management

Leverage the great assets that you have in your employees; find ways to incorporate their ideas to improve operations and profit.

Pros

The benefit package is equal to competing companies. If in sales, the incentive program tends to be lucrative, if the quota/goals are put within realistic range.

Cons

Continual restructuring. Constant fear of job security. A CPG value brand that has no intention of being any better than #3 with consumers.

Advice to Senior Management

Reassure employees of state of organization and benefit they provide/contribute. Inspire them to be better individuals in their work, which ultimately benefits the organization. Share with the company the vision you have for the organization and what the progress is with that vision.

Pros

You used to have freedom with how to do your job but not anymore

Cons

over management with the change in HR

Advice to Senior Management

Let people who are consistantly hitting sales plan manage their territory the way they see fit.