truck driver

warehouse worker

customer service representative

driver

production operator

Brenntag

Geez, where do I begin? First off, they are not up front about the job description at all, they fail to mention anything about tankers, railcars, or the fact that some must wear a full hazmat suit while working with open containers and tapping acids/bases, this is NOT a typical warehouse job! Management preaches accountability, except when it falls on them, then the next guy down gets blamed until it eventually falls on the warehousemen, which are unionized, so of course the blame will eventually end up on us. Their safety policy is the biggest example of smoke and mirrors I've ever seen, all these meetings and papers to sign so all accountability falls on us, just to abandon said policies in the case of a hot delivery or product, then it's "get it done by any means," even if it means putting the whole facility in danger. The training is nonexistent, most of it asking the veterans how to do things, not sure how they will operate once they retire. Basically have people exercising "trail & error" with hazardous chemicals, then enforce discipline for an honest mistake, instead of improving training. Most warehouseman know more than the supervisors running their shift, which again, goes to the lack of training or being rushed through it. People in certain management positions are in way over their heads, only promoted by how much they suck up to the bosses, cause again, these same people have to ask vets in the warehouse questions about the very things they're managing. Certain policies only apply to certain people, people get more in trouble for missing work, than those putting others in danger or causing spills or product damage.  They spend absurd amounts of money (I'd guess) on impractical things like fall protection that makes a job take twice as long to do, all while they force us to use them and add more work on top of the already busy schedule, further putting them behind schedule, without consulting warehousemen first, then gaslight us when we say that it's been an ongoing problem or not working. They type up an entire shifts worth of work before confirming that said work can even be completed (i.e. printing 80 labels for production when the storage tank[s] is/are empty.) It's basically a free-for-all more often than not, but management is too ignorant to make any changes we suggest.  Communication is non-existent, everyone is always on a different page. There is clear favoritism among some supervisors and employees. They attempt to sweep everything under the rug.  It's overall not a great place to work if you want to keep your sanity.  

I am not a disgruntle former employee. I am simply trying to protect other people from being tricked into working here like I did. I offer objective insight into this company and everything I say is based on real events and experiences in my former company. Like most problems companies have, it starts with the leadership. The leadership in this company consists of people who have leveraged company buy outs to their advantage and climbed the corporate ladder, or have been put in their position by those people. The result is very few actually qualified people with any real experience in leadership positions. This leadership aims to hire people that they can control, not empower. The result of this leadership style is that everything is totally dysfunctional. This is why it takes days and going through 5 people to get a price approved for a customer. 
     Sales careers are extremely depressing as you will have unachievable goals set on you with virtually no help from any supervisors or leadership. Things got so bad for me here that I started going to counseling for the first time in my life. One of the biggest problems here is that the CEOs best friend is a sales rep and is given extremely unfair treatment. An example is when my CEO gave his friend a very large opportunity out from underneath me out of my territory. I visited the neighboring facility on a bi weekly basis and his friend will never go back out there as it is 4 hours away from him. This happened because his friend had lost a very large company earlier in the year. The problem is that I am in a very remote territory and new business is very hard to come by. My CEO stealing leads from me really took the wind out of my sails. This is one example of MANY that really undermined my abilities to hit my goals. 
     I was the top performer in Maine as I hit my sales budgets more than anyone else in Maine. I focused very hard on my team mates and co workers to create an atmosphere of helpfulness and togetherness around me. The territory I came into was hemorrhaging business and I stopped the beading and was still able to overcome constant negative numbers to hit my budget month after month. Regardless of this I was still chosen to be let go. This is because the decision was not based on ability, track record, or team history. It was personal. Leadership did not like me because I stand up for whats right and question things that are wrong. I witnessed and experienced wrongdoing and unfair treatment by the leadership in every department daily and I would STRONGLY advise anyone to really think twice about working here.

Where to start? From the top of course, the management team at Brenntag Northeast is horrible. The positions were gained not by experience or skill, but by favoritism and kissing the right butts. In my several years of working here, management has been the cause of many unsafe and literally life threatening situations/mistakes. Several of them went unreported to appropriate authorities. Whenever these situations arise, it's very seldom that any responsibility is taken by management themselves and there's always an effort to place the blame on the victim of each accident. We work in an extremely dangerous environment and every single day we are reminded, safety safety safety, except when it comes to getting the work done, if safety gets in the way of production it is often bypassed at the encouragement of whatever manager stands to lose production numbers. 

I have never worked for a company that lacked so much compassion for the everyday struggles of it's employees. We were literally told that if we were struck by another vehicle or involved in some type of accident at no fault of our own that resulted in us being late or missing work that we would be punished for attendance and ultimately fired for doing so. I've seen employees miss funerals in fear of losing their job. There really is no excuse for this. 

If I had to describe managements mindset in one way, it would be that they honestly seem to go out of their way to treat us badly. They don't even pretend to care about your hardships in life. 

They actually refused to pay our health insurance premium one month while some of us had life threatening illnesses to deal with and one employee had a pregnant wife expecting to give birth that very same month. They did this all to prove a point, to send a message. The only message it sent was that they truly don't care about us, and it was loud and clear.

Really unfortunate to see the way this company is unraveling. Went from a private company who cared about it's employees to being bought out, made public and quickly going down the tubes. The new motto is to reinvent the wheel for things that aren't broke and let the things that are broke crumble.  

We have watched life-time career employees be fired, demoted and belittled by newcomers in an attempt to reinvent the wheel. There is absolutely no job security in this company and most employees, especially in new management roles will throw you under the bus and run you over for personal protection as everyone is pulling the blame game daily so unless you are BFFs with your boss, expect the sand in your glass to be dropping. 

Things have changed in the past few years financially. It started with the COVID excuse as to why pay was the way it was. Since they are now publicly traded the high goals set were not accomplished so we cannot get paid as we are used to. Removed things like holiday bonuses etc to promise higher payment in other ways to then be blamed as to why it is our fault we cannot get the higher pay. There now is a huge worker shortage and only select teams can get people hired. Why? Because the pay is not high enough to compete.

This company is scaring off great employees that were in it for the long haul because only the dollar matters, only those in central management roles matter and they have no problem removing someone from a role that does not fit their narrative and obliging attitude to ideas that are not in the best interest of the employees. 

You are also made to feel like you are on call 24/7. 10 PM? What do you mean you didn't answer the phone? You will then receive 5+ email threads on why you disserviced a customer with half of the Brenntag team on it.

Hope they can turn it around and get the toxicity under control. As of right now, this is 110% not a company to work for. 

This specific location was aqcuired by Brenntag only 3 years ago, and most of the changes have been internal (the actual plant is not in good condition, but the work and business itself are relatively stable).

Brenntag as a global company is very solid and has a very large prescence both in the US and Overseas; however this location has obvious signs of growing pains since the aqcuisition, due in part to the supply chain issues caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of the current employees and management are holdovers from the previous ownership, and this leads to culture and work ethic issues that tend to lead to newer employees being under a much closer watch. 

The positions in this facility are not extremely easy or simple, and there is an expectation for being able to be trustworthy and independent while also managing your time well and following the ever-evolving policies as close as possible.

*See Pros/Cons for more information*

Typically, personnel are expected to remain in their isolated operational department groups, keep their heads down, and avoid making any suggestions or aiding anyone with their duties. I learned that the safety concerns, when expressed by employees were dismissed out-of-hand, without due investigations, follow-ups, or changes. This was especially true of any suggestions from union employees. Management's perspective, confirmed up to the position of Regional Managers, was that any union employees was the "enemy", "gamed the system", and were always looking for ways to do the least amount of work. Co-workers interacted with customers and each other from an "under siege mentality", which expressed itself in a high degree of resistance to any customer, co-worker, or manager when any situation called for quick, sensible solutions that were outside of their comfort zone.  All employees I interacted with habitually hoarded incoming information in case it might prove useful for their self-defense of some future possible job insecurity. Mistrust was the highest I had ever experienced. Almost everyone, especially mid-level management, gossiped and spoke poorly of other employees when they were not present.There was, unfortunately, nothing pleasant about this job, despite continued efforts to improve employee dynamics. It was literally, the worst, most unfulfilling position I ever held.  I would be highly surprised if any work culture there improved prior to permanent changes in management.

As Warehouse Supervisor, typical day began with opening the facility @ 6am. Unlocking the property gate. Opening the warehouse and main office. Doing a walk-around of the warehouse to double check on cleanliness. In the warehouse office, go through the daily work orders that needed to be prepared for shipping. Divide the work evenly for 4 union employees. I would create production schedule for blends that needed to be completed by remaining 2 union employees. 
I learned about the chemical properties of the products that we distributed and how they were used in every day items that are purchased by us, the consumer. From how materials start from a mine, are grinded down into powder, and can be used in formulations to end up as any household item. 
Management was very receptive and open to any ideas that would be beneficial to the company, whether it be in regards to continuous improvements on safety, or cutting costs on materials that were used in our productions. 
Hardest part of the job was managing 6-8 individual personalities. 
The most enjoyable part of the job was completing tasks that needed to be completed within their respective timeline. Being the person that everyone would go to in order to get a job or favor completed (rush shipment, assist in audits, etc.)

Brenntag Mid South is a very hostile work environment from the Sales side. The group in Tampa (at the facility) is great they try hard. But outside of that, Sales, Management, Specialties Group and all the way to the VP's is absolutely a horrible environment. Everyone with titles have been at the company for ever. They are old, they think old, they change nothing and have titles based on time NOT performance. And they are all "good buddies". They have Sales Managers that customers see right through. The Sales Managers think they are friends with all the customers.....it is a very bad place to work. They do not have have work life balance. If you have a family it is not for you. They paint a pretty picture but beware. They allow for the people with titles, managers and all the way up the chain to do whatever they please and get away with it. And they wrote the book on micro-manage. They do not understand the customers needs. They only understand documentation, spreadsheets, tracking electronically, and any other useless tool they can make you document everything you do. Think very hard before you sign up for this company.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay was pretty decent, depends on what you do though,  not every position pays the same. It was nice they were a second chance employer although it didn't apply to me personally 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Chaotic, unorganized, no formal training it was a sink or swim environment which was equally stressful and frustrating 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It was a toxic environment,  you'd get thrown under the bus a lot. Lack of interdepartmental communication & even though I was in management, other managers were wishy washy in attitude. Buddy buddy one minute, petty the next.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There were the basic daily tasks mixed in with never knowing what you're going to get one moment from the next. Some things unavoidable, most things could be prevented, but again lack of interdepartmental communication & team focus. A lot of people in positions where the sink or swim sryle of training culture they mainly are winging it & it reflects in the day to day, so it is a system reliant on doing work you're not even responsible for with rewarded with the expectation to do more of it instead of addressing the issues with the proper people & teams

With 16 people in the department, 3 were out right in your face bullies and 1 was sweet to your face talk nasty behind your back bully.  Because of the bullying, I never felt safe at work.  Always worried about someone going off and causing havoc in the office and possibly hurting multiple people. Bullying wasn't allowed according to our outdated 2012 employee manual.  Safety was supposed to be their main concern but it didn't apply to the office.  Handicap people who had trouble walking were put as far away from the exit as possible.  If I told a safety concern to my supervisor, they wouldn't take it to the controller because my supervisor was afraid that the controller would start bulling them.  Any safety concerns that office workers brought to the controllers attention were mocked and disregarded. I was told repeatedly by supervisors that if the controller told me anything, I was to assume it was wrong information (most times what the controller told me was incorrect).  Rules were made and changed on the whim of the controller.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 25 salaries reported	$29.32 per hour
Warehouse worker 7 salaries reported	$22.46 per hour
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$23.50 per hour
Driver 5 salaries reported	$31.80 per hour
Production operator 4 salaries reported	$23.63 per hour

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