W.W. Grainger Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Great name recognition. Clear sales approach when handling Government customers. Well engrained within the business. Great profit sharing plans and health benefits.

Cons

Sales support is an issue. The new compensation plan is very confusing (purposely maybe?) I have noticed that the compensation plans are better elsewhere.

Pros

Experience what a public Fortune 500 company is

Cons

Experience what a public Fortune 500 company is..stick with thr private sector for sure!
They tout the fact that they were ranked in Chicagos to 100 places to work ??? Who rated them that?? Nobody I know.

Advice to Senior Management

If you work your people like horses, never saying they do a decent job only telling them how much better they could be, giving paltry raises out, then don't wonder why the moral is so low in the building.

Pros

Granger has great people, terrific benefits, a beautiful office (if you are at the corporate office), great training programs, and a good work/balance

Cons

I enjoyed working at the Grainger office but there were so many cliques. I felt forced to try to make and build relationships with people I didn't want to. To some, this would be ok, but it's really all about who you know which was a terrible fit for me. I ran for the hills!

Pros

Benefits package and profit sharing are great, except they make you work for a full 6 years before you're fully vested with the PSP. Culture is fine, business casual dress code and jeans can be worn on Fridays.

Cons

Inside sales at Grainger is utterly ignored by the company as a whole. Very few ARMs claw their way out of inside sales, and when interviewing for other positions at Grainger ARMs are usually told they lack the experience required. Management turnover is HUGE, I had seven (7!) managers in less than four years. Also yearly raises are a joke, the top performers last year received a 2% raise, which equates to less than $1,000. Laughable.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the inside sales program altogether, because nobody believes that part of the organization has the support of executives in Lake Forest.

Pros

Ethically run.
Long history of serving communities.
Recognizes employee's service anniversary dates.

Cons

You have to do your own PR campaign in order to get noticed. Climate is gossipy which creates problems if you are trying to move from one department to another. It's all about who you know not what you can or have accomplished.

Advice to Senior Management

Gut the HR Department, starting at the top. Some of the most mismanged groups I have ever seen, run by people who have been in their jobs way too long to know what's new in the industry and what motivates employees to do their best. Huge disconnect.

Pros

Great benefits, management doesnt look down on you.

Cons

information isnt shared with all of the teams equally..

Pros

Fiscally sound company -
Respected with rich history
Solid base salary
Excellent services and solutions for MRO accounts
Great branch network

Cons

Middle Management is a breeding ground for incompetency and dullness - they are given complete autonomy on multi million dollar districts.
Sales management with zero inter-personal communication skills? How does this happen?
Comp plan changes with the wind
Dead weight DSM's "riding along" with you creating problems instead of solving them.
44% goals over prior!!!! Really?
No identity - everything is smoke and mirrors
Constant feeling you're ripping off customers with price gouging
Too many initiatives are short circuited and thrown away. Feels like you're being pulled in 50 different directions at once.

Advice to Senior Management

Monitor your DSM role - 85% percent of these bozos should be selling cheap carpets and sunglasses off the highway. You're losing talent at a staggering rate - make your middle management submit to physiological testing. You'll be surprised.

Find a niche, evolve and adapt to the changing industry...or it's big, big trouble

Pros

in the top 100 company to work for.
They will work with you in career advancements, so they help you in finding a position you are interested. Even if you are just in an entry level position

Cons

they are a distributor of many products, don't really sell many products of their own

Advice to Senior Management

yes

Pros

The benefits were fine and the home office was beautiful. Pay was good. On-site cafeteria made grabbing lunch much simpler when you're busy.

Cons

The managers had their favorites and boosted them up while everyone else was left without any support or ability to add value. It is rare to find managers as inept as you'll find at Grainger, and they will take credit for your work whenever possible.

Advice to Senior Management

Examine your high turnover rate. If you look closer, you'll find that it's driven by your worthless managers that do nothing but infuriate the employees.

Pros

Good benefits overall, stable organization, profit sharing, smart organization.

Cons

Management skill level is painfully inconsistent. Career advancement (or lack thereof) is often determined by ones manager as opposed to an employee's ability or work ethic. Many employee talents are never realized by the company because manager's have the ability to hold employee's back. Favoritism seems to be given to white male employees. Although recent diversity efforts have been launched, the historic culture is impossible to change if the same people are in positions of authority.

Managers in International tend to be intimidated by intelligence and ability and seem to work to sabotage employee efforts. Many Baby boomers are shackled by years of experience. If these managers are not willing to adapt to change, they need to move on and make way for innovative risk takers! There have been recent changes but radical efforts need to be made to rid Grainger of it's "Good ole Boy" mentality.

Advice to Senior Management

Scrutinize management. Dissolve the hierarchy. Penalize managers who are not promoting or assisting with career development. Be true to your value system, don't merely give it lip service. Don't rely on management alone to identify talent. Your management team is not trained to identify or develop talent. You have already lost hundreds of employees who could have been of tremendous benefit to your bottom line. Get in your employees "odds are".