merchandiser

seasonal associate

production

brand manager

mechanic

Spectrum Brands

Spent this week working there through Express. My supervisor was on vacation today and was left unsupervised. The person with who I was assigned to work with  blew me off and refused to further train me on my assigned task. It was going well the first few days but today he told me he wouldn't be over there with me because "it wasn't his priority." However, instead of teaching me the next step or having someone else teach me the next step, he sent another gal over there to do it. (she had assigned work  that she was neglecting while I had none) I spent about 20 minutes looking for the only other supervisor that I had met to ask what the situation was with this but was unable to locate him. I clocked out  proceeding to head home and contacted Express to ask them what I should do. Long story short... I lost the job because I "abandoned my work". 

I'm a college educated individual with a degree and plenty of skills to offer any company. In my 4+ days working there, Spectrum reached out to me with interest on hiring me for more skilled work. The supervisor I had been assigned to seemed very excited and grateful to have someone like me there and seem very satisficed with the work. He expressed gratitude almost too much which was nice to receive.  I just wish he hadn't taken the day off or would have coordinated with management and team leaders(if there are any?) assignments and responsibility of their employees.

They variety of work was very refreshing and showed promise of being a good job. The work was super easy to learn and perform.(although some of the work was very labor intensive which full time employees refused to do and thus reserved for temps?) The employees there that I had met were at times pleasant and personable. However, the vibe was almost too laid back and people seemed a bit slothful and lazy to execute or perform their duties with a sense of urgency and enthusiasm. 

As I mentioned the people were nice and cheerful at times but seemed in my area to be 15+ year veterans of their jobs that were a few years away from retirement who preferred to keep to themselves and remain in their cliché.  I had expressed the situation to the gal who I worked with Monday that I was idle and explained to her that the guy I was working with was not interested in helping/ training me, but she didn't take any action. (I believe she might have been a team leader as well?) I talked to another few people but none of them seemed empathetic nor cared enough to help me find a supervisor or help them with their work or find another area which I could contribute. They seemed only to care about themselves, their jobs, and their deadlines (which were non existent to my knowledge.) In my 4 days there, I never felt pressure from management of any kind of demand of quotas and as mentioned before did not work with any sense of urgency.

I'm not sure if I'm more upset at Express or Spectrum. Express had represented the job opening that was much different than the work I was actually assigned to once there. The work was more hands on labor intensive (it blistered my hands and as I write this review are in a great amount of pain) but I toughed it out because I was learning other tasks as well and knew that it would lead to more jobs. (so I hoped)  Express had misrepresented the work I would be doing as well as the gear I would need. For the work I entered into agreement with express to perform at Spectrum ,they said I would need steel toe boots. I purchased boots, but when I was assigned to a job other than what express had "sold" me, I  learned that I did not need them.

Over all, it was a disappointing experience. It seemed a promising opportunity that I wasn't able to explore because Express and Spectrum fail to communicate their job's needs and conditions on which their employees would be working. They failed to provide supervision when needed and when asking about it, you get the boot. 

I thought by clocking out and talking to express to explain the situation that things would be ok and I would be asked to return and that things were just a misunderstanding because they were short on management staff that day. WRONG!  They are more into their cult like points system for attendance and such that by me doing what I thought was the right thing got me fired. On top of that, Express patronized me for my actions. I guess we live in a day and age that standing around and getting paid to literally do nothing is better than looking for your supervisor and when not finding him calling the temp agency with whom your contract is with to help resolve the situation.

If you take  this job from express, don't buy steel toe boots until you are there and a supervisor tells you that you will need them. If you are into a slow paced job where you can stand idle and do nothing without anyone in the building caring, by all means this is t he job for you. But if you are an awesome worker with great ethics and an above average skill set, I would steer clear of this place.

I was always called the face of the company. The firsft person you see when you walk in. That made my day because I received the gift of putting a smile on everyone else face that wlaked through the door. An employee who was frustrated about lack of pay, a staff who was stressed about an upcoming deadline, a vendor who was working on a project, or a visitor coming to tour the plant; all of these people made me look forward to my day. I had other jobs to. Some where specific and some where just given to me at any time and these were the hardest moments trying to add them into my other tasks. I learned a lot about Environmental Health Safety and how to input routes in the system to make sure the manufacturing lines keep running. I started my day with all the supervisors bringing me various paper work. Some of this, I was entering in a spreadsheet daily so that Production Managers and the Safety Manager could know how the plant was doing and other paperwork would be things they may have ordered and I was responsible for seeing if those orders were complete and receiving it in the system so that it could be paid and keeping up with what still hasn't arrived yet so there wouldn't be credit holds in accounts. Other times I maybe setting up various projects for the company, scheduling appointments with vendors, and  updating appointments with employees for worker comp appointments. I worked in a job that didn't have well defined duties. I just needed to always be there and be available to handle whatever came up from driver and deliveries, to all plant visitors and be the interface for all their needs - uniforms, personal protective equipment, badges, taxis, etc. As well as the production support role. i did that job for four years and always had good performance reviews and got along with everyone. my manager of three years left the company. I had to learn on the fly and figure out how to get things done when there have been no procedures and no one to ask. I eventually got a new manager who was also great but was new to supervising. Without having defined job duties, it was hard for him to know what was required of the job and what was needed to get done if i wasn't there.

As an Equipment Operator in the Elongated Department in HHI, (Home Improvement Division / National Hardware) we start out with a daily group meeting in our department with the lead personnel and supervisor. We perform stretches, then briefly go over what our goals and expectations are for the day and week. Day shift begins at 5am, 15 minute break at 730am, Lunch break at 1030am, another break at 1pm, then done for the day at 330pm. It is expected by the company that we as operators (and pickers) to have a certain amount of parts picked per hour. Since the Edgerton, Kansas location began not too long ago - It took A LOT of fine tuning and efficiency changes to make things work. Like other companies, improvements are always needed...So - I don't home in on the negative points and drawbacks. Since I've joined the Spectrum Brands team, the operations and efficiency is making progress. When you combine 2 plants from two different states into one new location, It takes time to make things work.  The hardest part of the job; keeping up with the picks per hour average - However - If you know the tricks to keep your average(s) up - It's not a problem! The most enjoyable part of the job - The people I work for and with. My leads, manager and supervisors are incredibly easy, reliable and fun. When you have great managers / supervisors, it makes work life SO MUCH EASIER...Not to mention - I don't have to deal with micromanaging where I am. Awesome. I know that this type of work won't be for everyone - But, the benefits and bonuses Spectrum offers, is pretty darn good compared to other large warehouse facilities. If you have a college degree, you could move up after a certain period of time.

Spectrum Brands is a multi-billion dollar company, made up of various smaller companies which it has purchased over the last few years.  There is an enormous amount of work taking place to quickly consolidate systems and functional areas to realize the financial savings.  

For those areas impacted by the consolidation, there is a lack of resources which has led to less than efficient operations of the day to day business.  The company still needs to define good work processes and practices and improve overall communication and cross functional operations. 

There is a lot of work to be done, a lot  of opportunity to learn but there is limited advancement opportunity.  There are some questionable practices taking place which highlight lack of  controls  to insure all components of the company are compliant with all regulations. 

Pay and benefits are competitive so is a good stepping stone job. 

Hopefully once the dust settles the company will define it's best practices and focus on the work force as well as the profits and weed out some of the undesirables. 

With the right leadership the company could be a great place to work.

This company only cares about new customers. Customers who have existing service are overcharged after being rooked in. Any issues requiring a technician are expected to be resolved with either a reboot or swapping out old, barely working equipment for "new" barely working equipment. Agents are penalized for rolling trucks and for daring to care for customers by showing empathy that exceeds 10 minutes total call time. Trying to advocate for your customer results in being written up and threatened with "adverse actions" up to and including termination. 

In short, if you are a robot you'll enjoy meeting the demanding unsympathetic metrics imposed on you. If you have a heart, expect it to be ripped out by endless coaching about sending out technicians and spending too long on calls expressing care and concern. Be a widget in a widget machine or face the consequences for non compliance. 

Avoid this company like the plague if you have any sort of conscience.

Spectrum Brands as a global company is truly a great company to work for. The benefits are amazing.  However, the branch in Vandalia Ohio has a long way to go. I understand it is a new branch of Spectrum Brands and so they are just getting started. However, the disorganization starts at the top and trickles down to the bottom. The promise of promotion and advancement have been given to people outside the company or those who have been employed for a shorter time then others. There have been no raises since we started in January and there is no communication on when that is happening. At any point and time they demand mandatory over time due to the fact that they mismanaged their time, funds and abilities to deliver a product. I am not saying the branch is horrible but it has a long way to go before it will be a success.

A typical day started with checking/ returning voicemail and reviewing website emails. This was followed by being on call while handling any other tasks necessary such as reading mail or returning consumer or colleague email. I learned a lot about record keeping and data entry. I also learned a lot about multitasking and time management as it was imperative to perform data entry while on the phone quickly and efficiently while providing care for the consumer. I worked closely with co-workers to share information and experience to handle each individual case with care. Management was fair and kind, my performance was always met with appreciation and if needed, constructive criticism. The workplace was clean and well kept. The hardest part of the job was handling each individual case uniquely since every consumer had a unique personality. The most enjoyable part of the job was working closely with my team to ensure the best outcome for our company and our consumers.

As the Key Resource I trained in all departments. Receiving, Shipping, Production, Quality, Inventory Control and HR. The company wanted someone that could answer any question or solve any problem. I mainly worked on the production floor as an Assistant Supervisor (Key Resource). I started the day by placing the temporary employees in different areas and placing them with a senior employee to train. I checked all the materials being used on all lines, the quality of the product being produced, kept track of indirect vs direct labor, did all the safety training and walked the floor to ensure the shift was productive. I enjoyed everything about my job, but the hardest part was making sure that all of the temporary employees knew how to safely preform the job they were being asked to do, how to preform the job correctly and what to look for as far as the quality of the product.
My reason for leaving was to further my career.

After working there for a year and few months you start to see that they do not care about their employees, it’s all about numbers which no matter how hard they work you there’s no catching up. Coordinators will embarrass you in any shape or form in front of everyone and not to mention they will act like their your friends but all they want is to know your personal business to use it against you. The biggest problem about this company is that it’s more like a “dating ring” where you swap from one table to another, another issue is how people drink on the job and a LOT of dirty deeds goes on when working on night shift. Only reason why they are paying so much is because they can’t keep anybody because all the smart people can see what this company is worth and leave within a few days or even on the same day that they start. STAY AWAY FROM SPECTRUM BRANDS!! If you have depression this is not the job for you because it will lead you down that path, if you do have depression then it will just get even worse like it did for me. 

I enjoyed my manager very much.  He was kind and understanding.  He definitely cared about my growth in my position and knew I could do great things.  My supervisor on the other hand was a complete 180 then my manager.  
Not much communication or direction between management and hourly employees.  Culture is something they are consistently 'preaching' but the bad apples on the management team don't help the cause.  
Hardest part of the job are the hours especially during the summer months.  
Most enjoyable part, if you're lucky to have a work family I would lean into that.  

Company offers good benefits and plenty of hours.  The work/life balance is pathetic.  Supposed to be a 4-10hour shifts and most weeks its mandatory OT for Friday and Saturday.  Paychecks are good but working 6 days a week isn't healthy for anyone.  They have been open since 2017 and still can't figure out how to efficiently run without forcing their employees to work 60 hours/week.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Merchandiser 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour
Seasonal associate 61 salaries reported	$15.84 per hour
Production 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Brand manager 3 salaries reported	$125,667 per year
Mechanic 2 salaries reported	$32.38 per hour

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