Steelcase Reviews

Pros

new opportunities, great group of people, ability to be heard on your ideas

Cons

grand rapids based does not give enough of a diverse pool of employees

Advice to Senior Management

more communication on what other areas are doing and better knowledge sharing

Pros

good work/life balance
reasonable good pay levels
bonuses when business is good
moderate stress levels
reasonable working hours, limited weekends

Cons

company business slowdowns can be concerning regarding job security

Advice to Senior Management

Consider the actual cost of moving jobs out of the country.

Pros

Steelcase furniture has a great reputation, the compensation is good and maybe better than others in the same industry. They have great facilities.

Cons

Great place to work these day IF you are a "YES" man. Top management DOES NOT want to hear bad news. Terrible employees are shifted around from location to location. One particular top VP manages the plants by Threat! Over the past 5 years they have spent millions, yes millions, shutting down perfectly good and profitable plants "to save jobs in Michigan" quote from a manager in Grand Rapids. Answer me this: if a plant is profiting millions per year, why would you spend millions to remodel the place, terminate all the knowledgeable employees, bring in Steelcase people from other locations that know nothing about the product or culture so they end up destroying the plant, then spent more millions on closing the plant, dropping the quality products and moving the products to other locations.

Advice to Senior Management

You are eating yourself from the inside. Listen to the people at lower levels, the ones that will be honest, don't terminate them for the truth. Shutting down plants outside of Michigan to save jobs in Michigan is not helping the bottom line or the investors. Stop the cash flow that is used to save jobs in Michigan, the cash flow for dead end projects, and the YES man mentality. Of course now it's too late to stop shutting down some of the great plants that you had, out of real stupidity. Yeah, I was one of those that was basically terminated early because I fought for what was right and would have saved the company money. I was honest and therefore let go early because I did not agree with most things going on and my own boss in Grand Rapids was the main "back stabber".

Pros

Steelcase is a strong company with many different facets of work available, providing many variations of job opportunities. Over the years, there has been a history of caring about the employees and providing the best wages and benefits that they could afford. Employees are generally very cooperative and respectful of each other.

Cons

Steecase has been through some very good times of very profitable years when we could provide products in the quality and quantities that customers needed, like no other competitor could. However, the competitiveness of the industry has totally changed and times are tougher than ever. As a result, we've needed to get so lean with personnel that people are stretched thin and opportunities for movement within the company have become more limited, since managers need fully-trained people who can hit the ground running.

Advice to Senior Management

There should be some way for employees to provide feedback about first and second level supervisors. Many managers are good, but there is no way to communicate it when someone isn't a good people leader.

Pros

pride of quality product, made in america.

Cons

no opportunity for advancement. very fast paced environment, three shifts around the clock work structure. allways felt pushed beyond equipment capabilities and maintenance people were allways repairing broken machines due to overload.

Advice to Senior Management

listen to empolyee concerns.

Pros

Organizational culture and environment is fantastic, very young and energetic. Very flexible with time off and schedules.

Cons

The company is losing a lot of talent due to low salaries and lack of growth opportunities. Much turn over.

Advice to Senior Management

Plan better employee retention

Pros

Well respected, good values, leaders walk the talk, good processes and work life balance

Cons

If you are looking for a dynamic place to work, challenging work with lots of projects until wee hours at night, Steelcase is not really the place for you.

Advice to Senior Management

If decisions can be made a lot faster and seen to take more risks. Fast decisions can also be of quality. Taking a longer time to deliberate doesn't mean that the quality will be better.

Pros

good ethics, nice work environment, good benefits, forward thinking in business ideas

Cons

moving work off shore/out of country, no long term future, don't follow up with plans laid out and improvement schemes and concepts , let die before completed

Advice to Senior Management

keep work in MI and work with local EE's to find ways to do work here more competatively vs off shoring so much work

Pros

Steelcase seems committed to find new approaches to problem solving as a learning organization. They are investing in new project and, young designers Employeee seem mobile in their search of work situations they enjoy.

Cons

Steelcase was a vertically integrated manufacturer, and that made it hard to flex workforce with downturns in the economy. The resulting move to outsource piece-work and move assembly to lower labor-rate regions has put great strain on those who support this transition.

Advice to Senior Management

Give teams responsibility for successful business decisions then trust them to bring those products and systems to life.

Pros

Steelcase is a global company with the right spirit. As a global leader in furniture there are lots of opportunities.

Cons

Working in a small counrty, with less leverage in the decision process and a small team is not always nice.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to keep the hard working Steelcase minded people instead of the wind making short term sales talents! And this by praising them correctly for their efforts.