W.W. Grainger Reviews

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – -Large company that isnt going away
-Do your job then you will never have to worry about losing it
-Been in business a very long time and very well known
-Room for advancement if you know the right people
-Pay scale seems to be better than the competition
-Profit sharing is decent

Cons – -Success is not always rewarded
-Not what you know or how well you do it but rather who you know
-As a seller, pricing is your worst enemy
-No inside (assigned) sales representatives
-New initiatives seems like almost monthly
-Branches and Sales are not on the same page and do not work well together

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure compensation plan. Invest in an inside sales team to work with outside sales representatives.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than a year

Pros – PST. Work phone for personal use. a highly watched (telematics) car for some personal use.

Cons – We're not AM's, we're TSR's and are paid accordingly, which is very weak. They expect us to be strategic with over 350 accounts, while seeing at least 15 per day, all while working on the previous 15 calls the day before. It's impossible. They think there's 48 hours in one day, which is the amount of time you need to stay caught up. It's always more, more, more for less. They say the commission is "uncapped", but theres a locked down, padlock cap on it! If you're lucky enough to have a low goal one month (which rarely you are lucky at all here) and do well, they'll get that money back next half when they realize you've made too much and increase your goals so you hit under the 75% threshold. Micromanagement from imcompitant managers. Pointless early morning rally's. Ride a long days with your boss are the worst/most annoying pointless thing. Talks to us like we're 19 year olds fresh out of high school and thinks we make that of an AM. Combination for failure and high turnover. There's been 100% turnover in the 1.5 years I've been here, including a new manager. My advise, don't even consider a TSR role.

Advice to Senior Management – Lower the goals, find compitant managers and increase the salary to at least become competeive. Also lowering the 60% margins on the items you're trying to screw the customers with.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than a year

Pros – Very Organized and lots of product catagories.

Cons – Too big. Its very hard to get things done. You have to call 6 people to just get help on any customer issues.

Advice to Senior Management – Tough to sell when all customers hate us.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good Commission Plan
Great Benefits
Profit Sharing
Experience
Investment in Program

Cons – Constant oversite
Must follow their Sales guideline
Constant Change

Advice to Senior Management – There is a constant eye on you even when you are hitting your numbers. Trust your reps and let them sell.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at W.W. Grainger as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Great company, fast growing, wonderful people, good learning environment, good benefits package

Cons – Salaries are not competitive but are mostly fair, culture can sometimes be a little conservative

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Solid reputation, quality products, solid distribution network, great compensation, good management support

Cons – promotes based on relationship , who you know

Advice to Senior Management – return to sales model of Account relationship managers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great benefits with the company. Profit sharing.

Cons – Growing sales force not adequately trained or focus to allow internal promotions from within this role.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at W.W. Grainger full-time for less than a year

Pros – good benefits and decent pay

Cons – terrible middle management--Slowest CRM consumes time and life trying to enter data

Advice to Senior Management – Do a sales rep job before you get to manage it

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at W.W. Grainger for more than 10 years

Pros – has a good profit sharing benefit

Cons – Does not value their employees. Keeps taking away and cutting benefits. No flexibility with work.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't undervalue or undercut your employees. A good business starts from within.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at W.W. Grainger full-time for less than a year

Pros – Dedicated passionate employees; above average benefits plan; great financial rewards if you can manage to stay in for the long haul (i.e. 5 years or more).

Cons – Extremely narrow minded workforce that hire for outside perspective then dismiss it because it doesn't fit in with the way they do things. Majority of managers and leaders are not equipped to perform effectively in their role and lack basic managerial and leadership skills. Every project and initiative is planned to take 5+ years as the company culture and pace of working is extremely slow. First year employee turn over is extremely high compared to industry norms due to culture fit, disappointment with managers ability and lack of career opportunity and potential growth.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company