machine operator

forklift operator

quality control inspector

quality control lab technician

order picker

Encore Wire

This company wines they can't get good help in the Electician department but when they do they treat you like a dog. I put up with it and did my job. Then I got out in the hospital due to kidney problems and was sedated due to pain and though I called sick as well as emailed the managers they fired me for not communicating sick call. Which I did. They knew I was going to be out for a while and needed FMLA but since I hadn't been there over a year rather than just give me extended leave they made false claim I didn't report in. Which I did. Barely due I was sedated in the hospital. Very hateful managers and very corrupt. No electricians or controls guys ever want to work there due they don't pay good enough. They definitely DO NOT pay enough for the rude English manager that is parinoid you will take his job. If he senses you are better than him or a threat you are targeted. Bunch of so called apprentice electrical trainees tearing up the machines all day and all night and your job as a qualified electrician /Controls man is to 24/7 clean up their mess and damage to the machines. If none of them would tough the machines it might not be too bad. But they do and your first 3 to 4 hours of every shift is putting the machines back together to find the original problem. 100s of machines in 6 manufacturing plants on campus. Pay is about 6 to 8 dollor below competitors. Your supervisors on shift are mechanics NOT electricians or electrical skilled. So they have no clue. So that means you have to make all the senior decisions and if it means downtime must result senior management will keep you overtime when they come in to hurrass you out for a good hour or so till you PROVE why you had to shutdown. If you are not correct you can be fired.
 Hostile work environment due to senior management. Low pay. Long hours.

This company has experienced continued exponential growth over its lifetime with out expanding the  necessary supporting infrastructure.

Positives:
Wide variety of technologies employed in the automated manufacturing lines. 
 Very large facility of six manufacturing plants plus copper smelting and plastic manufacturing plants. 
 Huge opportunity to learn (self learn) and play with a wide variety of control components like: HMIs, PLCs, AC /DC drives, encoders, frequency-to-voltage converters, safety monitoring relays, light curtains, and the like.

Negatives:
Putting this as politely as I can: Communication is NOT they're strongest suit.
 Maintenance dept. is still operating by paper and pen, and minimally at that. 
 ABSOLUTE minimal shift-to-shift, and job pass-downs. Extreme inefficiencies in maintenance process exists and Mgmt is not looking to change any time soon. 
 No internet access for part sourcing or product manuals, and no email for hourly employees. 
 Minimal product manuals and schematics / prints available to night shift employees. 
 Lots of issues with Electrical panel  lock-outs and disconnects being broken and having to don full Arc flash gear to turn on/off up to 2500 AMP panels by stepping into panel and putting shoulder weight into turning on breakers. 
 Mgmt knows about these issues and refuses to correct them.

Start with a meeting to let everyone know whats going on for the night. Get the guys setup for the night and there orders passed out to them. It was a great job but the downfall and what made me make the choice to quit after 7 long years of service it was just really unreasonable demanding on your time. Meaning you work 6pm to 6am, but you may have to work 7 days a week at anytime with NO DAYS off. I learned a lot here great learning experience for me I learned inside and out on Shipping and Receiving. Step by Step on what it takes to get Product from Production to Customer. Ordering, Receiving, Pulling, Scanning, Processing, Billing, Shipping, Loading, and Closing. I learned to do it all. I don't want to blame it on management but honestly it was a horribly managed warehouse. We worked 12 hrs shift which to anyone that's rough. On top of we also worked at night which was even worse if you had a family. Then you have the fact that at anytime we go busy they put up a mandatory sign that meant you had to be there weather it was your day off or not. When i first started i work everyday for 2 and a half months. I made over 42,000 my first year at 9.25 a hour. My overtime was more then regular time. All this makes a revolving door when it comes to employees. So as for Co-Workers i would say there are a couple that are still there that were amazing hard working people and was really a pleasure working with. The Hardest part was the Hours 7 years of it finally got to me, I have children that i missed a lot of time with that i will never get back. The most enjoyable part was the Job and the amount of Knowledge that i was about to learn in my time at the company.

The electrical supervisor and manager I worked for were great, but the other maintenance supervisors (mechanics) were hit or miss. And  that was the problem - you have situations at Encore where mechanics are supervising electricians in an area where they are not fully qualified. On top of this, there are issues where electricians make more than their mechanical supervisors and are also required to direct the work of mechanics in some situations. Many of these mechanics  have done their own electrical troubleshooting at previous jobs and resent this. They also resent being paid less than the electricians.

Encore has over 17,000 machines in their online maintenance system and there is a chance that you'll be sent to any one of them, at any time, to repair it. That means you'll only have encountered one portion of a machine once or twice, at best, unless you've been there for years. Schematics are generally available, but I've also walked into situations where a machine had 170+ pages of loose leaf schematics haplessly thrown on the floor out of order. The worst situation was being sent to troubleshoot a machine that had 800+ pages of schematics all out of order. It would take an entire shift to put the schematics back in order before one could even begin to troubleshoot the problem.

In short, electrical management was great. Mechanical supervisors are hit or miss. Benefits are great and pay is OK. Politics, due to issues between electricians and mechanics are very bad.

One thing that is well known at encore is thier high turn around rate for about every position. Ive even heard managers say they dont even try to learn your name till after 6 months. They offer decent amount of hours at an average pay scale as long as it's convenient for them so long hours during summer and cut short during winter months.Benefits are sub par at best. There is only one option for health insurance no different types of plans. No HSA account offered. They tell you that it's great Benefits but when you actually price compare its pretty expensive. 401k is decent. Vacation days are accused. So you have to work 2 years before you can take 2 weeks. Also be prepared for them to not offer but like 4 or 5 payed holiday days off and usually won't tell you up until the night before if your actually going to work. If you think that you can find better than there is probably better out there for you. They say they never have layoffs and that's one of thier huge selling points. It's because they will work you in ways to make you quit before they have to lay you off. They also take pride in claiming they have 0 debt and only cash but can't afford to give better wages to employees. Most of the buildings are extremely dirty as well clothes will be destroyed daily with no compensation for uniforms. Most places that you work seem very detrimental to your health. Chemicals and grease and dirt everywhere. Lots of unreported injuries to keep them looking good as well.

Mandatory overtime it’s not up for discussion you will be laughed at even asking for less than 60 hrs. Shifts are 12hrs per, I can promise you you will not have anytime to dedicate towards anything else it’s a you’ll be working 60-72 hours/week. When i got hired i was told we was having 72hr work weeks (6 days a week) and that when business slows down we can opt in for 40/48 hours. When i asked about 48 hours i was laughed at, if you want to dedicate ALL of your time and energy I’d recommend working here but if you maybe want to go to a bar hangout with friends enjoy time with kids etc.. just look somewhere else. If you work the day shift by the time you get off things are starting to close, traffic is an abomination so good luck trying to run any errands after work. If you want the night shift traffic will be an abomination getting in so you’ll probably end up dedicating 14hrs to work on your scheduled days. And by the time you get off you might be able to run errands if you want to stay up a couple extra hours to wait for everything to open so maybe 16hrs until you can start the end of your day? I hope you’re seeing the picture you won’t have anytime BUT to work. So if you’re a super hermit with no kids or wife or just want to minimize time at home awake then this is a good fit for you. The only good i have to say is that supervisors are kind and will work with you and give you some wiggle room, as long as you’re hitting your production goals ;) 

You clock in for 12 hours, no leaving campus for lunch, if you get a lunch or break that is, no set times for either. 

Very low pay for the high COL area, even worse considering most employees here drive far to reach this place. Raises are minimum, max a dollar if you are lucky, low as .25cents which is ridiculous in 2024, and for many, no raise at all. 

Working conditions are not ideal, no insulation or central AC, so very hot in the Summer and cold in the Winter. 

By far the worst aspect of this company is the work/life balance. If you have kids, a wife, or going to school, do not work here. Depending on plant you will have no set schedule, may work 12 hour days 8-10 days in a row, and only have 6 call out days for the entire year, yes, 6. Won’t learn when you work the following week until Fridays, so hard to plan for anything. 

Very hard to move up within the company without the help of HR, safety is of no concern, only how much product you can push out the door, quality also does not matter. 

Hardest part of this job is the terrible management, and lack of work life balance. Other than that it is a very easy job with a guaranteed income, turn over rate is the highest I have ever seen at any job I have ever had, so job security is pretty much no concern. 

Awesome 24/7 hour gym and medical staff on campus, great health benefits. 


What is the best part of working at the company?
They give everyone a 2nd chance. They have a program to help those who need it get their GED and those that may have background issues can apply and get hired. Everyone is required to pass a drug test which is normal, but they're a very diverse company that provides incentives as well and the highest raises I've ever seen.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The plant that I worked in has no climate control, so it's terribly hot in the summer and terribly cold in the winter. Also, unless you're flexible with your schedule, there are no advancement opportunities. If you get laid off, there is no severance pay at all. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture is very diverse which can be cool most times. The company shows appreciation of their associates through bonuses and cookouts and SWAG gear.  The only thing is that many associates are not willing to speak up when then feel something is wrong especially with the temperature inside the Plants. They be too scared to jeopardize their jobs.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Very busy with a lot of manual labor that requires a lot of strength. You'll be totally exhausted by the end of your shift.

Diverse and collaborative workforce. Great opportunity to work alongside with different cultures and was a strong sense of teamwork among collogues and camaraderie. A recurring issue was the lack of effective leadership and management. There appeared to be deficiencies in formal education and preparation and some leadership, supervisory, and management staff, which seemed to translate into management practices. This manifested in what felt like a "remote control" approach to business operations, where decisions were made from offices with limited direct, on-the-ground engagement. There were instances where communication from management was delivered in a disrespectful and unprofessional manner, leading to a decline in morale and felling that employees were not adequately respected. This contributes to a toxic workplace culture and quality issues in production. 
  

If I had known what I was getting myself into, I never would have applied here in the first place. I would always be given this impression that if I miss even one spot, it would mean the end of the world. Any one of these four people in my department would constantly snitch and complain. I always got hassled when I didn't perform a task their way. For example, I got hassled just for spraying Windex inside a microwave I was cleaning. I got hassled over a trash can that contained just one little wrapper in it. 

The worst part is that it's all being enabled and covered up. I'm not stupid. It's not like can't see through a simple lie. The high turnover is a reflection of this department's culture and management. There was 15 of us in all. 8 people including me had been there not even 6 months. At least 1 or 2 others for less than a year. I've been doing more than fine without Encore Wire and so can you. This really isn't some exclusive job opportunity. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Machine operator 3 salaries reported	$16.83 per hour
Forklift operator 7 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Quality control inspector 3 salaries reported	$900 per week
Quality control lab technician 7 salaries reported	$900 per week
Order picker 5 salaries reported	$925 per week

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