Working at Dow as a plant engineer - Senior Improvement Engineer Dow Employee Review

4.0
Sep 16, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Overall, Dow provides a very good package for engineers working in the plant. The pay is good, the benefits are top-tier, and work-life balance is good compared to other chemical/manufacturing companies. You're surrounded with a very diverse, intelligent, and friendly group of people that encourage leadership and technical growth. Dow does a good job of hiring people who are team players, making the workplace mostly enjoyable. For engineers, the opportunities at Dow are endless, barring some political issues (see cons below).

Cons

The Freeport site is very political. In general, Dow supports employees moving roles every ~3 years to gain as much relevant experience as possible. However, situations come up where you can get stuck in a role for longer. If a leader sees the staffing level at their department dropping, they have the authority to freeze you in your role. While most of the leaders are good and look out for your best interest to help you get the experience you want, you cannot assume that every leader will and you always need to strongly advocate for your career aspirations. This is especially tough to navigate for engineers coming straight from college, who are quick to assume that their leader is looking out for them. Additionally, while leaders won't admit it, there is absolutely a hierarchy among the different business units. Employees in the more profitable ones are treated significantly better with recognition and generally have more development opportunities. There's a lot of politics at play to get into one of the more profitable businesses. The company should do more to give young engineers more opportunities to rotate among all of the businesses.

Explore other reviews about Dow

5.0
Jul 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Safety focused and excellent benefits

Cons

Considerable amount of company restructuring and yearly layoffs

2.0
Mar 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Safety culture, flexibility (although less and less over time). Good health insurance and 401k match

Cons

Dow’s recent years illustrate the challenges of trying to simultaneously satisfy Wall Street’s demands for strong financial performance and aggressive DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) priorities. The company has heavily emphasized inclusion initiatives, including its openly gay CEO publicly sharing that coming out was one of the best days of his life in an internal communication, along with a notable increase in women appointed to senior leadership roles. Hiring practices reportedly require diverse candidate slates—including female candidates—and diverse interview panels before filling positions. These efforts, while well-intentioned, appear to have contributed to a series of questionable strategic decisions. Employees have borne the brunt through repeated rounds of layoffs (including significant cuts announced in recent years), minimal merit increases often in the 2-3% range, stalled promotions, and little turnover at the top levels of leadership. Senior executives seem insulated from the consequences, potentially overlooking how these factors—including their own leadership—may be central to the company’s ongoing struggles.

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