The base pay for most positions is criminally low especially with the increased cost of living. Rather than adapting to the outside world, Graybar views things from a board perspective alone and doesn’t actually care about the lower level employees. I worked at Graybar for 5 years and was given options for lateral move after lateral move after being promised a ridiculously higher potential. This translated into a pay increase after my first year which then got cut down in my last year because there was a new pay structure. Unless you are living like a broke college student for your tenure with the company, you will not survive. Graybar is frequently used as a training grounds for young people to get their feet wet. Then they leave and make more money elsewhere. Management not realizing this is honestly baffling. They would rather pay to train new people instead of maintaining their established employees with adequate pay. To go along with that, management has no clue what it’s like to be on the floor anymore. The majority of the management and directors are 15+ year employees that haven’t had to lift a finger other than to wag it at someone to “do better”. The amount of times I have seen older workers doing next to nothing all week is infuriating. To top it off, realizing what they make for their non-work just tops it off and really sent me over the edge. Somehow good people end up at graybar and it turns into a “we’ll suffer together” mentality where everyone hates the work they do, the management around them, and the compensation and it brings those people together. At least for my location, the company will be screwed in a few years. They are missing those middle level employees. Those that have worked there for 5-10 years because everyone is leaving for a more fruitful pasture. Regardless of “hidden” compensation in profit sharing and health care, that doesn’t benefit me if I’m practically living on food stamps. Stock and profit sharing can’t help me buy a house unless I’ve already put in 15+ years. They also neutered the amount of stock you’re able to purchase to even attempt to build any sort of mediocre wealth. The amount of 30+ year olds still living with their parents because they can’t afford to move out is criminal. The amount of people that are in their mid 40’s buying their first house with no family is ludicrous. The dinosaurs are retiring, then there’s the fresh meat, and there is nobody to replace the Alzheimer’s riddled management positions because Graybar didn’t treat their employees well enough. As I said, unless you take it on the chin for 10 years, you won’t see any real benefits from the company.
