Productivity Sabotaged by Internal Toxicity - Anonymous employee NLMK Employee Review

1.0
Aug 12, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Reasonable Compensation. Good climate control.

Cons

No upward mobility. General dissatisfaction among employees leads to constant gossiping and complaining. Many workers just coasting to retirement, not interested in learning new skills or profesional growth. Some employees only continue their employment due to need of health benefits. Envy among even management results in false perception of injustice when a coworker is apparently doing well in life and seems to some to be a suitable justification for slander and hen-house whispering. Some in management are clique-ish and aloof. Company is foreign owned and decisions made are often not in the best interests of the american side. Ex: russian slabs arrive with defects. Rejecting poor quality material back to russia is not posible cuz too expensive to ship back or scrap, so russia says do what you can to produce good Steel. result: american división pays top dollar for prime slabs which are really not prime quality and when there is internal fallout due to defects, american división takes the loss. Russian side uses american división as dumping ground for bad material to keep russian división looking good. stock is traded on russian stock Exchange and London stock Exchange, not american. Company uses ex-pólice officers to enforce safety and rules. these people créate a very tense, big-brother-is-watching atmosphere that compliments the gossip culture.

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NLMK Response
8y
We are sorry to hear that you are not enjoying your time at NLMK Pennsylvania. Since 2013 when this review was posted, a new career and succession program has been implemented, creating new ways for employees to move throughout the company. Leadership development has also begun as well as many other formalized HR processes. It is true, regardless of what the company does that some employees are going to be dissatisfied. We sincerely believe that these are exceptions rather than the rule. We are continuously working with our parent company to improve the quality of the incoming slabs. This collaboration involves regular communications between NLMK USA’s Quality team and NLMK, including two trips to Russia in the last 10 months. In addition, NLMK has tightened the internal slab quality requirements on certain slab grades as requested by NLMK Pennsylvania. It is true that 1 of our safety officers is a former policeman. This type of background is exceptionally useful in potential emergency situations that might occur in an industrial environment.

Explore other reviews about NLMK

5.0
Mar 6, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Management team is highly adept at flexing to the ever changing environment. Great place to work. Most common statement we hear is that our employees feel like family.

Cons

The company continues to work on employee engagement. It takes a while to steer a large ship and as improvements are made, it feels like it takes too long to some.

4.0
Oct 16, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked here for over 10 years as a salary employee and while no job is perfect, NLMK was pretty solid. It's the steel business so there are always ups and downs, but that also means that the pay is very competitive and the benefits are great. I think if you are considering a job, there are much worse places than NLMK to work.

Cons

The business model opens it up to tariff struggles and that can be worrisome. As a few other people mentioned, there is a lot of nepotism and that can be frustrating. Everybody has got their people right, and if you aren't one of them, its difficult to go anywhere. Also, many of the complaints on here reflect more on the union leadership than the actual management. The union leadership is less than stellar.

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NLMK Response
8mo
Thank you for sharing your experience and for being part of NLMK for over 10 years! We appreciate your honest and thoughtful feedback. You’re right—steel can be a tough business with its ups and downs, but we’re proud that we continue to offer competitive pay, strong benefits, and a solid team that makes it all worthwhile.
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