equipment operator

warehouse associate

forklift operator

production assembler

order picker

Owens & Minor

I worked at Owens for almost two years and worked three different positions, and I've seen alot of good and alot of bad throughout that time. For starters, there is a big disperity between the hours worked from shift to shift. When I left, inbound and overnight shifts would be doing 8 to 9 hours everyday while LUM would be hitting 10 minimum. And at the start, overnight was doing 10 minimum and the others vis versa. Some jobs and shifts are DEFIENTLY easier than others for the same pay, and once people figure that out alot of the good ones will move shifts. You get a small pay differiantal for later shifts but in my experience its not worth enough to work those hours. However, you do get time and a half overtime, so if you can handle 9 or 10 hours a day you'll be paid pretty good. The weekends off is a nice plus too. Managment is kinda hit and miss, a couple standouts but a lot of just ok ones too. I saw 3 incompetent managers while I was there but they were all eventually fired/booted off so that says something. The top managers who run the warehouse will not come down in the trenches and help you when it gets really bad. It will depend on the shift, but there are some really smart and helpful people there. And there are some bad ones too. The entry level jobs there are easy but can get to be hard on your body after a while. The numbers you need are not hard to hit if you give some effort. This place has ran really smooth in the past but there are a few pretty old machines and conveyers there that have started to break down and the parts are not shipped with what seems like any urgency. And let me tell you, when one of the conveyers goes down, that adds at minimum and hour to the day. That has started to be a frequent occurance which just derails entire days or weeks (or months) and destroys moral. Also, the company has been taking on more contracts with more hospitals since I've been there, which while I understand thats good for bussniess, there is really no consideration for what that adds to everyones plate. That warehouse is already too small for what it ships and they add a little more every year, there is just flat out no room for stuff sometimes. And the staffing is downright awful more often then not, alot of people come through the door and they dont know how to work and are clearly high off their butts, and last a couple months then quit. There are some grade A hustlers there, especially on LUM shift, but I mean you got some people giving 110% and some giving 20%. For the same pay. And its so understaffed that they cant even afford to fire the bad ones. The work culture is terrible too, all the older guys talk bad about the company non stop, very hard to maintain a good attitude there. All that aside, if you can work hard and tunnel vision your specific job and don't mind 9.5 hour average days, this job will pay your bills and then some. And you can enjoy your weekends. But the more you learn about this place and the more time you spend here, the more you will grow to hate it.

I have worked here a few months(almost six) and the while simple to do is made worse by the expectations of management.  Like most jobs there is a system in place where you need to hit a minimum rate/amount to be retained, though it is very much polluted by other things they want to track to essentially micro manage every thing you do and expect you to just come in and work like a robot.  Something that "The Average Joe" can come in and meet as stated by upper management.  Though that is a problem when most people in the buildng are not hitting the rate which in part is due to the lack of training as all they do is teach you how to do the job but never the ins and outs of their polluted metrics system on how to actually hit it and getting write ups for not hitting the rate that start after you have been there 6 months and essentially get walked out for that alone.  It's a good temp job if you wanna look at it that way.  Management only cares about numbers.  They don't care how much overtime we put in on a weekly basis.  They just expect us to come in and do it again. There is no employee appreciation what so ever.  Most of your dealings with management will essentially be them telling you how you are not hitting the goal in one area or another, sign off on write ups, sign off on errors, etc.  Going back to the overtime I mentioned, there is A LOT of it.  You practically live there.  Just about every day and every week there is overtime with no signs of slowing down especially when people get fired or just up and quit to save themselves the headache of having to work for a company that just cares about the bottom line and not its employees.  No one here right now is motivated in any way.  Especially when you consider their is no room for growth especially since they just got rid of positions and consolidated the work.  Everyone is always upset with something at owens and minor and for good reason.  Before you apply here understand that is just the stuff on the surface.  Only thing that kept me here as long as I was were the people I worked with whom's company I did enjoy.

Start the day with team meeting then off for a LONG work day. Each day in Carol Stream you can expect 13-15 hour days. You pick orders going to hospitals in Wi. and IL. When we were in Hanover Park it was great, everyone got along, had great hard working teammates, only worked 10 hour days and the team helped each other to get the work done. Then the company decided to go into an RDC and consolidate 3 DC's into 1 with more space, product, equipment and teammates. Things fell apart and work hours exploded with the lack of training on new automation, new teammates hired, the getting away from verification of orders. Customers who were completely satisfied are now suffering the growing pains of this RDC. Swat teammates were brought in to help correct the downward spiral and train teammates on the automation and on picking orders properly. This helped slightly but apparently not fast enough for corporate? It has gotten so bad they put the GM on administrative leave then fired him? This man worked for O&M for 18yrs and was GM of the year and awarded DC of the year. Then came the termination of a manager, several supervisors and teammates. In which all have worked hard and tirelessly to keep productivity going and customers satisfied. O&M continually states that the teammates are the backbone of the company and them tosses people away because of their lack of for sight in planning. Sadly enough this has happened at other DC's around the country and odds are will continue in the future. I believed in the company and the management I served under in the past, but not the future. 
Some of the posts you read here are from ex-teammates that were let go for various reasons and others that truly like the company. I used to be the latter but not anymore. I am not disgruntled but truly disgusted in the way we are moving forward with no consideration for any teammate!!
LOOKING for a new job!

This is without a doubt the worst warehouse I have ever worked for. The management is so incompetent it's not even funny anymore. I'm still waiting for my yearly review and raise, which was supposed to happen months ago. But the GM claims he's working on it. Yet we all work 12 plus hours a day with no relief in sight. 

There is no climbing the ladder here. You are told you can't put in for a promotion until you have worked here a year. Then when you do, the promotion is given to someone who hasn't worked here for even a year, and does nothing but his regular job, instead of being an actual leader. It's a giant slap in the face for hard workers. 

Then you put in for yet another promotion, only to have it given to someone who sits at a computer or talks all day, and leaves early the majority of the week. Yet another slap in the face. 

There is no communication from the leads or management. Unless of course it's to yell at us. I don't understand how corporate hasn't done anything about the management here yet. They are losing millions of dollars, but clearly don't care.

Oh, and our reward for working so hard, dinner cooked by the management. Which consists of undercooked hamburgers and hotdogs! You could have killed someone! Or, pizza which was ordered late and didn't arrive during our break, so we had to scarf it down in five minutes. 

Please, don't bother working here. The management is so incompetent it's truly a nightmare. Until they get their act together this place is going to remain a dead end stress factory. 

If corporate is reading this, your workers are about to go on strike and just walk out. They are fed up and done with the poor treatment they receive every single day. You will lose money. Get it together.

A day in Owens & Minor has an employee, referred to as "teammates", working to process customer orders for daily route delivery.  This is accomplished by being a part of one of several teams.  During the day, distribution coordinators receive inbound shipments that are eventually put away in the warehouse for a later shift to fulfill outbound orders.  Customer service assists customers by creating orders or resolving other issues.  

The facility I worked at taught me the value of longevity in a career role but also taught me that sometimes an individual should look for a change in career.  Unfortunately, advancement opportunities are slim to none especially if one proves to be efficient at their job.  This facility is real bad to "pigeon-hole" individuals in job roles.

Management at the facility is your typical corporate stock.  They maintain the interests of the company but also tend to work things out when a teammate undergoes a serious life change.  I did not necessarily agree with management at times but they did seem to try and work with individuals in the time of scheduling needs.

The hardest part of the job is to retain morale.  Being an industry leader in technology, there are constant changes being made to the operations of the facility.  While this is a necessary evil for this business model, it does not promote unity among teammates.  This creates an environment where individuals feel that favoritism rules the day.

The most enjoyable part of the job was definitely the teammates.  Over my tenure with the company, I had the pleasure of knowing everyone and becoming friends with many of them.

After being scouted by Owens for over a year, I finally decided to take a position there.  They offered a large compensation and benefits package, and promised me advancement and career growth through the roof.  Shortly after starting with Owens I became increasingly more aware that their HR, Management, and Culture were seriously lacking.  I was having to create HR documents from scratch as their National HR did not have a standard.  During management meetings I realized that everyone in the room has an idea but no one knew how to follow through or implement.  I had multiple teams and different hospitals in supply chain who had not received yearly reviews in over a decade, and some of which had not received an annual raise in that same amount of time.    There were Area Managers who had not visited their sites in years.  Overall, this company has the potential to be one of the greatest distribution and hospital process improvement specialists in the world, but they are lacking oversight, standardization, and integrity.  Given the opportunity I would gladly take a position as a consultant to help them resolve this matters, but I would not be willing to take any other type of position.  I left this company with a sad and bitter taste in my mouth from the lost potential.  They have deep pockets and buy their way into new industry practices but fail to implement them as successfully as they could.  This is the kind of company you take a job with to make a large sum of money quickly and then run for the hills before your integrity and morale are incinerated.

The warehouse jobs are easy enough for most people.  Of the people who can't hang with it, the majority are either unable to wake up at an appropriate time, or they can't differentiate between similar numbers, or they just adopt a laid-back/lazy attitude early on.

The company has been going downhill, from a low-level employee perspective.  Systems have been implemented which were justified,"to make sure we are charging customers correctly", but is, of course, a means to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of warehouse employees' work.  The system, which makes sense on some levels, is extremely flawed; switching tasks without recording via RF commands that you are working on a different project for a time will result in less efficiency - thus a lower % on paper - but does not affect actual production.  This is often the case when attending a group meeting for 15 or 20 minutes, discussing an issue with a supervisor, or performing general housekeeping duties, which are indirect labor.  Either way, just know there will be no bonuses for better work.

This is not a company to work for if you are planning to advance in your career.  The company is 130 years old, so you have to either wait until someone retires or dies to move into a better position (even in those cases, it is often left unfilled).  

Again, the work itself is somewhat mind-numbing and easy to grasp for most people, and the success or failure of the individual comes down to their attitude.  For a high school graduate or GED recipient, this might be an okay fit.  Beyond that, not so much.

The only positive thing I can say about this company is that they have generous paid time off, and you get to have conversations with people while on the job. The cons are as follows: this company does not care about you as an individual, or your work-life balance with family. They only care about how much you can produce. They will work you to the bone and then implement mandatory overtime. The work environment as a whole is extremely toxic, everyone talks bad about one another, there is constant unnecessary drama every day, toxic employees are not punished and have worked there for 5, 10 + years. No one is held accountable for their actions; management will point fingers and make excuses. There are direct attempts to sabotage other employees that go unpunished by management. The hours are inconsistent, one week you're on five 8-hour days, the next you're on five 10-hour days and mandatory Saturdays, none of the extra hours are optional, you're required to stay, and they give no notice before they do mandatory overtime. Multiple employees are required to do more than one job but don't get paid any extra for doing the extra work. Bottom line is there is way too much drama every day, the hours are inconsistent, and the company is running itself into the ground, nothing they have to offer is worth dealing with what they put you through. If you value personal time or sanity, steer clear of this place.

We (Bulk Pick/Night Shift) are all OVERWORKED and UNDERPAID. Management changes every year which should of been an early sign, especially the warehouse manager and supervisor positions. Their safety and covid security measures for backtracking any outbreaks are horrible and inaccurate. The night shift supervisor rarely raised a finger laborwise to help if at all. He sits down for 8-10 hours giving out lines even when he already knows it would be a 4am night and wouldn't care that we started at 2pm and that we were fatigued.  Most of us bulk pickers are left feeling used and abused. They would rather us get work done fast rather than to give us extra 15 min breaks for working 10-12 hours daily. There was definitely favoritism associated with certain pickers for the night shift as some of us would pull 300+ lines and still get off the Forklift last and still have to load a truck. If you go above and beyond you get nothing to show for it just more work load. They don't use every teammate for their best abilities. Annual and semi annual bonuses are a joke, If we received a $500 bonus they would tax it and we should be happy if we even saw close to $300 out of it. The crown forklifts and repairs are horrible and always damaged. 

Standard Operating Procedures are determined in large Distribution Centers with 100's of teammates available for all tasks. In small DC's, like Albuquerque, you are expected to wear many hats and do all the same tasks while being measured for performance and time utilization and expected to hit all company goals. The expectations are impossible to meet and teammates usually cheat the system to hit their marks. Upper management is a joke and does not listen to lower level manager and supervisor when they tell them the goals are impossible to meet! They want to be the best but never lift a finger to help. Employees are constantly getting written up for poor performance. Moral sucks and teammates have a, "I'm doing what's best for me attitude and I don't give a darn about my teammates!" People call in all the time, and could care less how their absence impacts their teammates work day. You never get out on time and employees will do as little as possible. NOBODY TAKES INITIATIVE to do more than expected and there is way too much drama for a little place like this. Expect to work lots of overtime because its always short staffed and even though teammates know this, they still call in and make it worse. The pay rate is low for what is expected and pay checks are good because your constantly working overtime and have no life. Worst company I ever worked for!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Equipment operator 63 salaries reported	$19.21 per hour
Warehouse associate 10 salaries reported	$17.15 per hour
Forklift operator 3 salaries reported	$19.67 per hour
Production assembler 3 salaries reported	$17.91 per hour
Order picker 11 salaries reported	$20.14 per hour

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