Dow reviews

3.9

72% would recommend to a friend

(3,430 total reviews)
avatar

Jim Fitterling

65% approve of CEO

41% positive business outlook

Dow has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 3,430 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
3.0
Mar 30, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place too learn. Very collegial most of the time. Many opportunities to fix big (albeit unnecessary) missteps--basically a version of the "fail fast fail often" mantra, but completely unintentional. Pretty good comp. Very complex business. Don't underestimate the educational value of joining an old line industrial company. Operations, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Environmental and more are all both broad and complex--far more so than most "new" business. Just don't expect great marketing experience: the company mostly sells commodity plastics and chemicals, which is why all the other aspects of the business tend to be used as sources of competitive advantage.

Cons

Despite being amicable, the culture is very rigid and not dynamic at all, especially when it comes to problem solving and strategic positioning. That can be very frustrating since the breadth and depth of the work is so extensive. There are so many missed and mismanaged opportunities! Majority of executive management is grossly incompetent and owes their position to unquestioning, mindless loyalty to the CEO/Chairman of the Board. CEO is a self absorbed, dishonest megalomaniac who generally ignores his competent leaders out of pride and overconfidence. Read about his $720k expense account abuse--it's public. Ironically it became public the same week he rolled out a new employee ethics and integrity standard where he lectured the company about, among other things, how use of expense accounts to even the smallest degree is grounds for termination. Also of note, three corporate auditors in a row were fired or quietly force out of the company remarkably soon after each confronted him about his expense account abuse.

3.0
Mar 23, 2016

Dow R&D

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great resources like analytical, literature databases, consultants, etc. You can find an expert to help you in any area you need.

Cons

Way too political; fear of losing job; stressful culture due to bullying management. And nothing is done about managers who bully employees. Women are particularly hit hard by this and many leave.

Viewing 22 - 24 of 3,430 Reviews

Glassdoor has 5,164 Dow reviews submitted anonymously by Dow employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Dow is right for you.