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Gardner Bender

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Is this your company?

Guarantee you will want to quit after a year! - Anonymous employee Gardner Bender Employee Review

1.0
Aug 30, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are some good quality people within Gardner Bender and the other companies under Power Products that made it very difficult to say goodbye. Even though this is a smaller company, you are exposed to so many various situations, people, issues, and project discussions that you do find yourself becoming more well rounded/better prepared once you leave. As though; "If i got through that, I can get through anything."

Cons

I had been with this company a little over 3 years and I have never been a part of such a poorly managed company. In my 3 years I had been through 5 managers and 1 sale of the company. When i was leaving, they were already going through their second sale of the company. The upper management is a complete joke. And thats the nicest thing I could possible say about them. They have no regard for any of their employees. We were disposable to them at any second and the appreciation level was extremely low. Because of this, the turnover rate was extremely high. I had seen so many good/smart workers leave because the level of leadership simply wasn't there. We had gotten a new president who "pushed pushed pushed" everyone based on his feedback from our new owners and expected growth of the company. Everyone pushed themselves so hard, we walked around like zombies, stayed late, worked well over our hours, and in the end we rarely got even a thank you from the upper management. I don't even think they knew what each of us even did on a daily basis to make things happen. Our team was extremely lean and you find yourself doing multiple peoples jobs even if they tell you "this is your title" simply because the company operated lean. They are all about money and that might sound like a good thing, but the money mainly goes to the upper management. A quality company is never lead by money. And its ever so obvious when you actually find yourself at a high quality company. The pay gap between "them" and the "people on the floor" is extreme! Most people are severely underpaid. When you add in under paid with under appreciated, its hard to see any future. I implore you to think twice about working for this company. I haven't even talked about the quality of product. Go and look for yourself and watch it fall apart in your hands. They have zero integrity. You work so hard to end up selling crap. You will quickly find yourself unhappy and looking for another job.

Explore other reviews about Gardner Bender

4.0
May 31, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Because the company is small it allows you to get experience in various different fields that you might not be able to experience, in a larger company. If you're looking for a company that will continue to push you and motivate you to do better and excel this is the company for you. They recognize hard workers and needle movers. They also give opportunities to people who don't have experience in a field they've expressed interested in. If you speak with your manager generally they can set up a career path to eventually have you move into the field you'd like.

Cons

The company operates as if it were a large business with very few employees. The company is very lean, meaning in your often stretched very thin and working a lot more than the typical 9-to-5. There is a lot of turnover within the company because of the demand on the employees. So you're constantly training new people or seeing quality people leave because so often the demand is unreasonable. The benefits are average. You have to work there for many years to get a decent amount of vacation time, 20 something years just to get five weeks of vacation time. The rest of the benefits are average not too expensive for a small company. The pay is average compared to the industry. The company is going to be sold again. That does create a level of uncertainty for middle-management or shared service employees. So that makes it challenging to see a future in if you hold one of those positions.

1
1.0
Apr 21, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you absolutely need a job and the local prisons are full. The sales team has constant turnover at every level and no real leadership to speak of. Sales loss of almost 40% is continuing since q3 08.

Cons

The downsides are that there are no upsides. This company is close to collapse. Management is in constant turmoil and has not figured out any direction or focus for the company. The marketing department is incredibly ineffective and has completed no major campaigns in the last 2 years and not even a recognition of their 50th year anniversary in the marketing materials.

5
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