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.
