Pros
- Great work/life balance: generally can come and leave at very predictable hours. Only on rare occasions had to work longer than 10 hours a day. - Very good HR policy: no cap on sick days, flexible work hours (some people start their day at 5 to beat the traffic, others start at 9), good number of personal vacation days that grow to 18 on the 4th or 5th year. - Good year end bonus and stock purchase plan. - Decent health insurance and 401k matching at 4% (if you put in 6%). - Good pay compared to the rest of the industry. - Good job security: usually people only lose jobs if they happen to be from the company Dow acquires, but for Dow employees it's quite unlikely to get fired. All the people who retired early got offered excellent packages.
Cons
- Very slow pace: good for people ready for retirement, or with lots of kids or family commitments but not good if you want to make things happen. - Bureaucracy: as found in all big corporations. - Slow career advancement: Take 3-5 years to be promoted to the next level, and there are just so many levels. If you are unlucky, you can be trapped in a middle levels for a loooooooong time. - Slow pay progression: since pay is pegged to job level, slow promotion = slow pay increase. - Bonus scheme does not reward people who do well: outstanding performers (rated 4 or 5 on the 5-point scale) don't get much higher bonus than poor performers (rated 1 or 2).