Grainger reviews

The sales dept. is one big lottery. Even though a commission system is in place, you can't really effect your accounts much and are at the mercy of what you are given. This goes for the managers as well. Some are good people, most are pretty incompetent. Opportunity for advancement is pretty poor unless you know someone higher up or really enjoy kissing butt for years on end. There are a lot of people spending the majority of their time justifying their jobs rather than doing anything productive as there are a ton of jobs at Grainger that simply don't need to exist. They really over-complicate their business and that leads to a lot of catch-22's, micromanaging, and corporate red tape. They don't value quality people, they value people that play the corporate game. This is why if you don't get lucky with your accounts or your manager, you can end up being really miserable at Grainger when overall it's a good company in terms of the financials.

Lack luster middle management. People put into leadership roles with no real world experience. Promotions based on realtionships with upper management instead of experience or performance. Company changes direction every year with no real clear stategy. Worthless meeting after meeting about "Coaching to WOW" that never leads to anything more than a average review after taking on more responsibilties and leading by example.