McMaster-Carr expects a great deal of its management and gives good benefits and work opportunities in return.
Pros
Great compensation and benefits, excellent opportunities to manage people early on in year career. Well run company that has taught me a great deal about how to manage for efficiency and productivity. Good opportunities for advancement and rotating through various management positions to gain experience in different functional areas. Good work life balance - reasonable hours. They do not call you in to work when you are not scheduled to work. You do not have to take work home. In fact taking work home is discouraged. Lastly, almost everyone, employees and management, is pretty good at what they do. It is refreshing to work with colleagues who you can count on.
Cons
The company expects you to work very hard when you are at work and to be very good at what you do without much praise or encouragement. The culture can be somewhat rigid or restricting - when you are at work you are expected to be working. Because incompetence, or even mediocrity, is not tolerated it can feel like you are always on the verge of getting fired even if you do good work.
