W.W. Grainger Reviews

Pros

Product availability and lead times allow employees to make promises to customers that are not only met but more often than not their expectations are exceeded. There are too many benefits to company to list. The relationships you develop here will help you from now on.

Cons

Alot of talent to compete with within the company. New positions and growth are very common and with plenty of qualified outstanding employees pursuin those positions it is a huge challenge in obtaining a promotion that you want.

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

Grainger offers a decent atmosphere to work and good experience andf also has good benefits

Cons

Some managers are inexperienced and do not demonsrate management experience and some are very "political"

Advice to Senior Management

Same as above

Pros

Great distribution
Solid customer base
Diverse product mix

Cons

Goals are set every 6 months (perhaps as a method to control cost of sales?)
Goals are unrealistic (double digit growth expected year after year till you fail)
Reviews are based on check the box activities
Territories are static and not reviewed effectively by management

Advice to Senior Management

Goals should be set and provided BEFORE the quarter starts...not after (controlling cost of sales?)
Divide territories so they reflect the local market opportunities
Establish DSM's that actually have solid sales skills to help develop opportunites (after all they are called "Sales Managers")

Pros

Good brand recognition, lots of customers who already buy. Good benefits(when I worked there). Lots of resources, but somewhat disorganized. Good sales training.

Cons

Kind of jekell and Hyde management. I'll equipped district managers. Sometimes out of touch with the field level. Slow to move when quick decisions need to be made. Lawyers prohibit a lot of contracts. Goal setting is somewhat arbitrary- reps get different %goals. Leads to favoritism. Easy to push reps out.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit trying to make a "one size fits all" sales rep. Realize that sales is still relationship driven. Give your reps more autonomy and have a little more flexibility. Promote from within more.

Pros

So far it seems that management is more than willing to help in the advancement of each individual employee, laid back.

Cons

Micromanaged like some of previous posters have stated.

Advice to Senior Management

Impressed with all of management that I have encountered.

Pros

Mon-Fri 9-5 is good.
The pay is ok compared to working in a similar place like a Home Depot or Lowes.
Two week vaction in first year even for new hire.

Cons

You will never move up in the company if you aren't a brown noser and if you aren't in the "in crowd".
Be prepared to do your job and twenty other things at the same time, then get "coached" when it isn't done in 20 minutes. This will be happening all while the "chosen" few are laughing and talking about their day and drinking coffe from dunkin doughnuts.
Just a bad place to be if you aren't in the chosen group, look for another job while you are there and dont think about a transfer because Grainger managment is all the same you will go through the same thing everywhere you go.

Advice to Senior Management

You guys really need to get a clue, stop hiring the same people over and over again that's why nothing ever works. Managment is all the same they don't do anything and expect the world from employee's but they themselves don't know what they are doing.

Pros

Profit Sharing is fantastic
Flexiblity in Job (Must have good time mgmt skills)
Solid Base Pay
Good Value Proposition
Solid Reputation in Industry

Cons

No Company Car and Mileage Reimubursement could be better
Compensation Plan gets more complicated each year
Limited Room for Advancement

Advice to Senior Management

There needs to be clear advancement opportunties. Make the compensation plan fairer and easier to understand. Get more in touch with field employees

Pros

Profit sharing
people
great inventory position

Cons

goals set every six months.
to much busy work for after hours
you have the same accounts year after year
not in touch with the reality of the economy

Advice to Senior Management

look somplace else for cost savings other than just the sales compensation