Pros
Strong company overall and it can be rewarding for those who are willing to sacrifice their personal life. Typically work from home (field employees) and usually work unsupervised..
Cons
ZERO work /life balance. NO time off as you are literally on call 24/7 and that is what you usually work. You are essentially punished for taking vacation. You can only get time off IF there is somebody else to cover your calls and then you still have to get all of your work done in three weeks rather than four..this results in poor work quality and resentment. as a field employee your family essentially becomes part of the company or they will leave you (very high divorce rates for long time employees). because you are on call at all times your family must learn to deal with you constantly changing your plans, leaving earlier than expected, or just not coming home. What was a very great job once has become like too many other large corporate companies in that they have slowly taken more and more of the perks away, while slowly adding more and more work. About ten years ago when I started, the average Service Specialist had approximately 70-90 customers depending on location. I have several Service Specialists reporting to me now who have an average of 120-140 customers and each one covers an average of 13 counties. The pay has remained about the same, but the extra customers and territory means a lot more hours and headaches with no incentive for the hard work and extra hours. Basically, Ecolab has lost its identity and while they must change like every other company out there who wants to remain competitive in a volatile market, many of the changes have been made without regard (or perhaps respect) for the field employees who are the heart of the company.