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      Eastman

      Engaged Employer

      Eastman reviews

      3.3

      54% would recommend to a friend

      (2,475 total reviews)
      avatar

      Mark J. Costa

      42% approve of CEO

      37% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.4

      Work/Life balance

      3.4

      Compensation and benefits

      3.3

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.1

      Culture & values

      3.1

      Career opportunities

      2.7

      Senior management

      Eastman has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 2,475 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Eastman employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      2K reviews
      2.0
      Apr 27, 2019

      Company has lost its soul!

      Manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Many dedicated employees Diversified product portfolio Expertise on technology platforms Strong engineering capabilities

      Cons

      Mark Costa is destroying the company. Where is backbone of the rest of the executive team? Will HR stand up? The employees are treated as disposable. The great culture of teamwork and collaboration is being laid off and if you oppose it in anyway its career suicide. Too many employees coming in without expertise. American jobs have been shipped to Hyderabad India and the rate is only increasing. Hyderabad employees are creating disasters, too many jobs added too fast there. We’re laying off the very people that can fix the mess. All new employees are in India or straight out of school. You get what you pay for. We say D&I is important to us, yet we are moving jobs rapidly to a place that has a horrible diversity and inclusion record, particularly towards women. When issues happen with they are excused because of their cultural background. I guess it is fitting since there are no women on the Executive Team, and only one minority in that group. Mark’s strategy looks like classic corporate greed, he took raises away after they were communicated to employees. He says we don’t have the money, yet we announced an acquisition weeks later. Not to mention we have the cash to increase the dividends and buy back stock. Did I mention Mark flies back and forth to his home in Miami weekly, also his pay is higher than any previous CEO at a time employees are treated the worst in the company’s history? Where is HR and the rest of the Executive Team? Training and continuing education for employees is at a paltry level. Cost cutting and layoffs for years isn’t a strategy!

      3.0
      Jan 25, 2017

      Good Place to Work, But Losing Positive Qualities that Differentiate Company from Other Large Chemical Companies

      Chemical engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Historically, Eastman has had a non-competitive, team culture

      Cons

      The company has rolled out a new stacked-ranking program for employee performance. It now includes a "partial meets expectations" category that should represent 15% of a group in addition to the 5% that "does not meet expectations." These goals tie into the employee's bonus and promotion + career opportunities. If Eastman truly hires good employees, it is hard to believe that 20% of the population is under-performing especially in light of the two lay-offs (totally 6% of the employee base according to corporate communications) in 2016. This has caused a lot of concern among employees regarding the continued health of Eastman as a company.

      avatar
      Eastman Response
      9y
      Thank you for your review. We believe that our people are truly remarkable and makes us successful. Contrary to some postings here, Eastman does not have a forced ranking system. The system we use closely matches a normal distribution of performance in a high-performing company. We expect our managers to provide ratings that most accurately reflect an individual’s level of performance relative to their peers in a given year and to have candid, ongoing discussions regularly. Our philosophy is that every team member deserves clear and honest feedback on their performance. We strive to attract, retain, and develop high performing team members in order to accomplish our growth goals. The ratings are intended to increase clarity, specificity and consistency of feedback and coaching to unlock the best in our team members. Companies that have successfully moved away from formal ratings have very strong, natural, and candid feedback and coaching cultures. Performance is managed throughout the year. Feedback and coaching conversations happen on an ongoing basis. Employees report that the quality and candor of the discussions is high. And they clearly understand the linkage between their performance and their recognition & rewards. Over time we hope to build a culture like this, but we're not there yet and are using our formal process -- as many companies do -- as a way to help drive the rigor, candor and consistency.
      3.0
      Jun 14, 2017

      Ruminations of a 30-year Eastman Veteran

      Chemical engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      The company has changed quite a bit from the Kodak days, and mostly for the good. Co-workers and managers are generally helpful and want you to succeed. In spite of some recent blunders I believe the CEO is intelligent and does want Eastman to prosper. Diversity of workforce is mostly a plus; lots of expats have successful careers here. Primary caregivers, however, are more challenged (see Cons). Eastman has historically had many very technically competent employees, but this is changing quickly (more about that in the Cons).

      Cons

      The 2016 downsizing and push for productivity has resulted in exceptionally overworked employees. Forget about taking all your vacation ( and you can't carry it over or get it paid out). Most of the comments in the reviews about the performance management system are true; it is only used against you to prevent a promotion or so your boss can give part of your bonus to one of his pets. The plus side is if you are one of your boss's pets then you don't need to worry about your rating. Experience and technical knowledge are not valued very much; long-time employees are treated like diseases when layoff time comes around. A staggering amount of experience walked (or was shown) out the door in 2016 simply because a young new hire looks cheaper on paper than an old timer. Women (and some men) with children won't fare as well in their careers due to a lack of work/life balance. Another Con is that managers change position every couple of years; I think this is a Con because your direct supervisor may never understand or appreciate what you do or your value. On the other hand this could be a Pro if you're incompetent or want to hide out till retirement.

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      Glassdoor has 2,859 Eastman reviews submitted anonymously by Eastman employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Eastman is right for you.