Mar 12, 2015
Dow
Anonymous employee
Dow Response
11yThank you for your comments. We hope you notice the increase in HR activities focused on career development coming your way in 2015!
Dow reviews
3.9
72% would recommend to a friend
Jim Fitterling
65% approve of CEO
41% positive business outlook
Dow has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 3,434 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).
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3K reviews
3.0
Mar 9, 2015
Something to do between age 35 and 50 if you have a family...
Anonymous employee
Former employee, more than 10 years
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
- company tries very hard to ensure quality of life in a small town (Midland), location can be quite nice for people with young families - company will be undergoing a massive leadership and middle-management overhaul in the next 18-36 months, so lots of opportunity for newcomers between the age of 35 and 40 since young talent is impossible for the company to attract to Midland - if you can tolerate the focus on process over efficiency the quality of life can be fantastic, the HQ clears out every day by 6pm, every Friday by 2pm between July 4 and Labor Day and is completely empty on the weekends - lots of time available for training and development - bonus will be good once every 4 years or so, in between you can clean up on LTI's and stock purchase plan - pay at Dow will be lockstep but the Dow brand on your resume attracts HR recruiters and you can make a killing when you leave
Cons
- you need to be in Midland to have any real shot at advancement - Midland is in a very poor part of Michigan, so you will be surrounded by rednecks and meth labs if you venture outside of town - local community is split between Dow and non-Dow, so all of your "friends" will work for Dow - the public high schools are horrible (ignore the rankings) and private education is non-existent unless you are an evangelical Christian, so education for children becomes much more of a challenge for older families - housing market is a disaster, you will buy cheap and sell cheap so don't plan on making money on real estate and your home will be a hurdle to relocation after you leave Dow - you will leave Dow, every employee after their 50th birthday becomes a target for layoff and you will want to leave the minute your children finish high school before your trailing spouse leaves you - job market for trailing spouses is non-existent, unless your spouse also wants to work for Dow - office politics are among the worst around, probably as a result of such a large company residing in such a tiny town; there is no escape from the politics since your boss will probably attend the same church and shop at the same grocery store
4.0
Jan 12, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook
Pros
Dow is a large company, and offers the opportunity of moving between roles and gaining a breadth of experience. They are major part of a keystone industry.
Cons
It is a very large corporation, and it is hard not to feel like a cog in a giant machine. Management and coaching is not encouraged or rewarded, so little opportunity for mentorship and guidance beyond your own wherewithal. Dow is a bit of an old boy's club, and promotions are influenced by who you know and have worked for and how much political capital they have with leadership. The industry is old fashioned and lacks an innovative and face paced environment, and this is true through much of the company. Dow wants to be an innovative technology leader, but is caught in its hedge between old school commodities for which cost cutting and efficiency are the keys, which are its bread and butter, and advanced technologies further up the value chain. Dow isn't risk tolerant to place the financial bets and invest in a different type of human resource to really transform as a company.
Viewing 85 - 87 of 3,434 Reviews
