Pros
Work Environment: I don't know if I will ever work with a group of people as nice as the ones I worked with at McMaster-Carr. Everyone was very intelligent and outgoing toward fellow coworkers. The diversity of the workplace and diversity in background among the employees lead to a wonderful environment for collaborative thinking and problem solving. The facilities are always clean and provide a mostly relaxing atmosphere. Benefits: Health care plan is paid for entirely by the company. Extremely low deductible, and the total out of pocket costs are actually less than other typical plan deductibles. Retirement is fully paid by the company and invested in an employee trust every year. The employee owned trust has decent returns. While you cannot contribute additional funds to the retirement trust, it is still typically more than you will get anywhere else. The downside is the time it takes to become fully vested. There is a yearly profit sharing bonus, which takes approximately 3 years to become fully vested in. The bonus is typically a few months salary. Too many other benefits to list them all.
Cons
The management structure is simple, but there is no opportunity for general employees to advance. Most supervisors and managers are brought in straight out of college with little to no management experience, then groomed to fit the positions the company wants. This leads to a large disconnect in not only experience, but also a disconnect in the fundamental understanding of the work between management and lower level employees. Note: There are SOME very good lower level managers at the company, but they are moved around so often that you will rarely see them again, and they have no direct involvement above your specific position anymore. Your job is constantly on the line. Department supervisors change once or twice per year, and department managers change every year or two. Each change in management brings new performance metrics and expectations for the employees in the department. If you don't meet the expectations of the new supervisor, it could mean your job. The low level work is monotonous, and there are very few actual challenges once you understand the work you do. The largest challenge is to meet the companies ever increasing performance metrics. When I first started at the company, they were more focused on the quality of work instead of the quantity, but after three years that shifted in the opposite direction as managers started putting more emphasis on the minute to minute operations of your day. While these metrics are constantly changing and increasing, they are very seldom communicated to the employees. Unless you are in a management position, be prepared to do the same thing day-in and day-out for your entire time at McMaster-Carr. There is no incentive to go above and beyond, and it can actually be detrimental to your job. Going above and beyond sets a standard for your own measured performance, and if that lowers for any reason, (personal or otherwise), your job could be at risk. The vacation time could be considered a pro or con. There are standard paid national holidays. While you do have "unlimited" sick days that do not count into your vacation time, they are closely monitored. Initially, you receive 13 paid vacation days. This increases to 15 days at 5 years and 20 days at 10 years.