Dow reviews

3.9

72% would recommend to a friend

(3,431 total reviews)
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Jim Fitterling

65% approve of CEO

41% positive business outlook

Dow has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 3,431 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Dow employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufactura industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Apr 12, 2016

Don't be a wasted talent...

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You will get to meet very interesting people that are genuinely very nice as well. There is a lot of very nice co-workers and pay is good if you are FS/FL level (not good if you are Tech/Tech level).

Cons

I will try be as objective as possible. First and foremost, your experience will really depend on who your boss is. My manager was a young amateur who's been given a responsibility to lead a team of 15 people in one-go and lead them to their living hell (i.e. either being extremely disgruntled or in some cases like myself, leaving the company). In my case there were people that were doing close to nothingness, and they were ranked same as I was ranked at the end of the performance review (Performance review at Dow is utterly useless by the way). So you should expect to see some people that actually "do nothing" and people that are extremely hard-workers rewarded similarly (unfair treatment? I Call it the Dow treatment) The other problem is that management has no clue what they are doing and nobody is overseeing those monkeys and the way they operate. They operate as if they are the best, and they will tell you that they are the best. Not only that, they will even come at you where you don't expect it and shove it right in your face. Nonetheless, you see right in front of your eyes the competitors poaching your customers left and right. The reason your management MUST convince you that they are the best is because of their hypocrisy and fear of upper-leadership, they will SAY ANYTHING just to get the "big boss" off their back, so that they can continue to operate like monkeys. Development, like a lot of people already said, is non-existent. You will learn a few things here and there once you start and then if your manager is like mine, you will be asked to do 250% of what a human being is actually capable of (social/work balance?) and then your boss expects you to be an obedient slave and just DO things that you are asked like they are holy orders. Where is your development? Well, let me know when you get 5 minutes to even think about development. If you dare and speak to anyone in Dow about development, they will revert you back to your "1st level supervisor" as they call it. Then your supervisor will act extremely surprised that you aren't getting development because he/she thinks that development only comes as part of your day-to-day tasks. Then he/she will ask you to write a "EDP" Employee-Development-Plan which is a very lengthy document that will remain in your drawer for years after you've drafted it and nobody will even act upon it. So in the end, you won't get the development you need. Here is an employee ladder at Dow with job position titles: Level 138 - Engineer Level 158 - Lead Engineer Level 181 - Senior Engineer Level 208 - Associate Engineering Manager (HR of Dow says that most employees will retire at this level) ... ... ... ... Level 500+ (These are director and executive levels) But there are so many positions left, so why stay in a company where you retire after jumping into 3 positions? and it takes 3-4 years for each promotion which is completely unrelated to how hardworking you are. Last but not least, is the GEOAS (Global Employee...Survey). This one is a real joke. Dow collects feedback every year from its employees about how the company is doing in terms of stress/recognition/management/safety/accountability....etc and EVERY year the feedback repeats again and again and again. They just use this GEOAS as a venting machine for employees like me (who give honest and very critical opinion). There are tons of cons but honestly I am just too tired of writing....

1.0
Feb 17, 2016

Like your job outsourced?

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunities abound if you have the very specific requirements.

Cons

Direct hiring into Dow Chemical is rare or non-existent anymore. Any and all contract labour is slowly outsourced but they won't touch direct hire Dow employees. You will be expected to train workers from India before they take your job, a la Disney. The company makes billions in profits every quarter, yet they enacted a cost cutting initiative, which is an excuse to use you and spit you out like chewing gum.

4.0
Jan 22, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people you get to work with is the most rewarding portion of this job. They are for the most part very bright and talented. Great pay with great benefits.

Cons

There was always uncertainty in whether or not job cuts are coming. Even high performing individuals are part of workforce reductions. Always in no spending mode.

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