production operator

production engineer

shift leader

engineer

mechanical engineer

Olin Corporation

At Olin I experienced petty bullying, embarrassing and humiliating situations, ostrization, lack of care for my success or growth, double standard situations, and favoritism. 

There was a pre-planned and concerted effort before my hiring to give another employee favoritism. Not only was I told this by a coworker, but it was also extremely obvious. 

Firstly, I asked at least 2 times in the interviewing process who all I would be working with. I was never told I would be trained alongside someone else. If I knew this, I may have reconsidered as I was initially told there was only 1 position open in the lab.

I do believe, that although favoritism was pre-planned, management may have wanted to see who would more quickly rise to success- me or the other trainee.

Training on lab duties was quick, sparse, tense, and micromanaged and I did not learn well in this environment.

After it was apparently decided who should be favorited, the bullying, embarrassing & humiliating situations, ostrization, lack of care for my success or growth, and double standard situations began and grew worse over the subsequent months.

My periodic reviews were mostly lies or at least wildly blown out of proportion. Me seeking help was used against me and seen as failings rather than as attempts at learning.

I was genuinely so nervous all the time due to the treatment that my performance certainly did suffer, which of couse created a "justified" feedback-loop for continued bad treatment.

For a company culture that touts Christian morals & fellowship, and has a strict anti-bullying and anti-favoritism policy, I mostly did not experience or benefit from those things.

All-in-all, terrible experience. I was not treated like a friend or a professional by my supervisor or team.

Worked for a plant manager not much older than myself.  This individual mentored me to develop the role of Plant Engineer in support of a specialty chemical process, transport of chemical in a shipping fleet, and a line of equipment that would dispense the chemicals at a customers plant.

The job was three fold:
Maintenance
Project Engineering and
Process Support engineer

I had the opportunity to work with young co-op students from a local university that were my "engineering work force".  I gave back my previous mentoring relationship to these students.  The produced for the company at a lower cost than permanent staff.

The work situation was such that I was able to pursue a night time MBA degree at a local college while working full time as a Plant Engineer.  The work day was long but was rewarded with a company paid degree and advancement from the Ohio plant to a larger facility in Illinois.  At the new plant I was exposed to larger CapEx projects and participated in plant design and project management.

I was at first happy to get the job as it is close to my home. Soon after I started, I switch positions to a higher paid position. I wasn't trained hardly at all. I kept asking to be put with another trainer since the one I was with was upset they didn't get a position within the company and was upset constantly saying they would find a better job by the end of the year. The management is horrible. None of them know how to fix the equipment themselves but expect you to just know how to repair it with no training at all. Foreman writes everyone up for false reasons. People come and quit so much you'll never get to know people's names. There's only a couple of employees that have been there longer than a couple of years and they also say that if it wasn't for being there 10 plus years, they too would quit because of how horrible it is to work there. I was forced over every day for 8 weeks. You have to stay or get walked out for ten days and on second get fired. So, you can't make plans ever as you'll most likely be forced over to stay. There are employees that will harass you and get away with it. Take my word and don't waste your time applying here. It's the least amount of pay I have made in my 25 years of work experience with way more lies and miscommunications.

Olin Chemical, a company known for its chemical manufacturing and distribution, experienced a tumultuous period marked by poor management practices. Several factors indicated the presence of bad management within the organization. Firstly, there was a lack of transparency and communication from upper management, leading to a disengaged workforce and an environment of uncertainty. Important decisions were made without proper consultation or consideration of employee input, resulting in a demoralized workforce. Additionally, there were instances of favoritism and nepotism, with certain individuals receiving promotions or benefits based on personal relationships rather than merit. This created a sense of unfairness and hindered the growth and development of talented employees. Moreover, financial mismanagement was evident, with reports of inflated budgets, wasteful spending, and poor financial planning, leading to budget shortfalls and an overall negative impact on the company's performance. These instances of bad management at Olin Chemical had detrimental effects on employee morale, organizational culture, and financial stability.

Speaking as a salaried engineer, Olin is a good place to work. It's a largish company with a small feel because they are spread out over multiple sites that essentially feel separate. They treat employees like people not cogs in a system, and are very generous/flexible with vacation. We even get paid time to volunteer for charities of our choice which is really cool.

Leadership is very open to ideas and contributions from employees they encourage/reward it heavily.

The only down side I would say for me has been leadership turn over. My boss has changed 5 times over the last 8ish years. But I suppose that could be seen as a good thing because about half the turnover has been due to them being promoted within the company (other half was them retiring) so I guess it speaks to either career longevity or advancement opportunity withing the company.

They also have great benefits, my health care cover everything I need. 401K is growing. The maternity leave policy is good. 12 weeks paid between the company and FMLA.

The company is currently making a push to centralize in Houston. TBD on how that impacts the culture, but seems good so far.

Overall Olin is good stuff.

This job is great if you don't mind working swing shift and forced overtime.  The pay and benefits are awesome.  The problem is that you work swing shift so you soon become an insomniac after working there.  They also force overtime and if you refuse they walk you out for a 10 day suspension.  Sometimes there will be little if any overtime and sometimes it will be every day.  It is not uncommon to work 24 hours of overtime in a week.  Also you don't get any sick time and only just did they start allowing you to use your vacation time as you need it.  Before the most recent contract you had to use your vacation time to get paid during shut down times in July and November/December.  You don't earn vacation for the first 2 years then in is after 5 years that you have enough to cover both shut down periods.  You will be forced to work 6 days a week.  My department worked a monday thru friday week and had months of working every saturday.  So if you value time with your family it is a very hard job to live with.  Like I said the money is great and the health insurance is pretty good but the trade off is rampant insomnia and burn out!

The company claims to be an equal opportunity employer but if someone is related or is good friends with a manager or supervisor they will have the best chances for advancement and or employment. The rate of competency here is very low. Poor management, most lack basic knowledge and education. This particular facility would be a poster child for nepotism and the reasons to oppose it. I have repeatedly requested copies of my pay check stubs and still after almost a year they don't provide them and can't get them to respond to repeated requests to help straighten out Administration problems so I could print them off of their computer program. Getting tools and parts is a nightmare. Supervision is pathetic and so is the engineering department. If I were in charge I would clean house and start hiring people and require higher education standards as well as proven results of performance. This good old boy and girl pony show is completely unbelievable. It's amazing it is so flagrant in a company so large. 

I worked for Olin following Olin acquisition of Dow business assets, within which I was integrated. The transition was a large undertaking but Olin tried to make it as smooth as possible. They have helped me to continue to develop my engineering skills in an M&E environment with a fair amount of high level support. In my particular area there were few places to advance so I sought job roles elsewhere, however it wasn't because Olin was not a good place to work. In my experience my department went through several leadership changes in only a couple years and that led to a sense of instability but I don't know how common that is. The benefits package was great with 401k and pension plus full health coverage, so for that I have no complaints. I would have liked more of a focus on employee development, though. If that was more emphasized in my time there I think I would have stayed and had the opportunity to move into areas where I could be most valuable.

Olin is a place to make good money for what you do. The plant I worked at made ammunition. No place for jokers. Mandatory overtime. Jumbled three shift rotating (eg. Midnight's, Afternoons, Days)  if you dont think that will screw up your circadian rhythm you have another thought coming. Management could change it but they wont. They dont like workers! This company's founder had a rule of no chairs in any shops and no leaning against workbenches. Even if there was nothing to do, you were going to stand throughout your shift. Much of the equipment is proprietary, so it is mechanically challenging, especially in a breakdown situation. Virtually no preventive maintenance, run it till it stops, fix it, run it again. Runs 24/7. Lots of overtime. Point system for attendance. Very "local boy" cliquey. Not too well regarded by most working stiffs in the area.

I enjoyed working for Olin the Employees & Management was very nice. They had great benefits & great pay. I loved driving the forklift & working overtime for this company. Olin trained me a to be a safer and more efficient Forklift Operator. A typical day at Olin consisted the falling job duties.

•	Read work orders or received oral instructions to determine work assignments and material and equipment needs.
•	Ensured that all safety guidelines were followed. 
•	Oversaw the production process and managed the production schedule. 
•	Monitored loading process in order to ensure that materials are loaded according to specifications for 30 machines.

The most enjoyable part of the job was training new employees & completing my daily work schedules early & on time. The hardest part of my job was in the beginning of my career with Olin learning how to complete the job is the safest quickest way possible without making any mistakes.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production operator 15 salaries reported	$21.65 per hour
Production engineer 2 salaries reported	$126,500 per year
Shift leader 12 salaries reported	$152,486 per year
Engineer 2 salaries reported	$128,325 per year
Mechanical engineer 7 salaries reported	$116,921 per year

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