supply chain specialist

customer service representative

account executive

accounts receivable clerk

sales support representative

Univar Solutions

The positive... if you work in the warehouse the pay is decent compared to other warehouse jobs in the area. If you work in the filling plant you get paid less which is weird considering how closely you're working with extremely dangerous chemicals every day. Management is pretty decent about working with you if you have scheduling issues and they're all decent people. Not great at managing an operation but good people. That's about the only positive stuff I can mention of my tenure there.
The negative... where do I begin? Their processes are absolute garbage. Company wide not just at this location. There's no standardization throughout the company and each branch has their own way of doing things. Its ridiculous. The equipment, i.e. forklifts, you need to do your job are garbage. They were all submerged in a massive flood years ago and rather than replace them they just had some bogus mechanic rebuild them so they're constantly breaking down. For 2 or 3 years we heard we'd be getting new lifts. Never happened. And to load a certain minibulk truck you will be asked to load large totes that far exceed the rated weight capacity of the trash forklifts you have to use. It's unsafe at best. This branch is grossly understaffed and they'll never hire people to lighten the load because the shot callers are some empty suits in another part of the country who run a business by looking at spread sheets instead of going to their facilities and seeing how ridiculously inefficient they are. There's little team work between the warehouse and the filling plant though they have this slogan of "One Univar"... LOL! If the fill plant needs help the warehouse has to help but when the warehouse is in desperate need of help the fill plant never comes to help. It creates a lot of resentment and poor morale. The "managers" openly fight with each other over walkie talkies for the whole place to hear but if the rank-and-file employees did so they'd probably get reprimanded. It's very unprofessional. You never leave a day of work with a sense of accomplishment. You just spin your wheels day after day after day and spend your life wishing your life away waiting for the weekend to arrive. Its depressing. Their benefits packages suck and the cost increases all the time. There's very little incentive to excel at your work or try to be innovative because nobody is willing to make any changes. I could go on and on but this should paint a picture. If you want an unrewarding, frustrating, stressful, and chaotic job with no hope of seeing improvements then this is the place for you. I personally wouldn't recommend someone I hate to work there. I wouldn't do that to a person.

I loved my job at Nexeo Solutions (FKA: Ashland Distribution).
I was warmly welcomed into the composites customer service team when I started there. I stayed with the same team up until my departure from the company.
NOTE: This review is MY experience here meaning that it doesn't pertain to any other employees' opinion of the company.

I cannot say much, if I told all that I think of my experience here I would be typing this for far too long.  
I started as a temporary. I was hired full time shortly after.
I felt so welcomed into the team that they soon became like family.
(I know other areas of this company and a lot of those employees' feel the same as I do)
I had the best supervisor and management. My sales team was awesome! My fellow CSR teammates never failed me. This company is very team oriented and each person is fully expected to hold their own as well as your teams back if needed. 
I was never over worked I don't believe. If I was then I believe I asked for it.
I was ALWAYS acknowledged for a job well done and was compensated for it in one form or another.  Same goes for if I messed up it was never over looked and it was brought to my attention in a very professional and fair manner .... they offered ways to avoid it next time. This company WANTS you to excel!

It should be said that the only reason I am longer employed here is because I was given the opportunity to be a stay at home mother for my son. (I went through pregnancy and maternity leave here, which by the way they were always supportive and I was given all the time I needed)
I gave them that I was leaving and I was so well respected for my decision even while they hated to see me go.  I was given a beautiful good bye party which I walked away in tears.

All in all, a wonderful place of employment, room to grow, incentives, vacation, sick time, benefits (you pay for unfortunately) but still ok, team oriented, travel available if needed, support, always trained sufficiently before expected to perform alone.

Stressful work environment and low morale. It’s apparent that the managers do not undergo any type of managerial development as some of them are abrasive, lacking in managerial skills, and have little regard to the professional development and personal motivations of their employees. You are expected to be a work horse without receiving adequate bonuses or raises. Management manipulates employees sometimes; I have personally been lied to by my manager in order to manipulate me into working more. I have heard similar stories from other employees. You are expected to work lots of overtime hours, including weekends. Managers are not interested in hearing ideas for process improvement but prefer inefficient methods. I have been publicly yelled at for bringing up potential ideas and I have witnessed others being yelled at for the same. I have seen others publicly embarrassed and ridiculed by the department manager. The company and its managers do not like people asking questions or bringing up issues. You are a cog in a dying machine here. You will not learn any new skills or be provided with opportunities for professional certifications/classes. There is a good chance you will have more knowledge and awareness than your manager. High turnover. Quite a sad and stressed place to work. They do not seem to care about their people. Also, if you are a contractor looking for a permanent position,I would recommend avoiding, because this company exploits long-term contract workers (temps) with no intention to move into permanent posts. I expect a response to this post to be something like “at Univar we value our employees and encourage you to speak with your local HR representative”, something I have heard before. This is just for show. The company does not actually value feedback or want to make prolific changes to its culture. Employee response surveys lead to nothing, and HR does not conduct exit interviews; make of that what you will. Feedback goes in the bin. 

If you are in sales, you can do fine with this company. The sales force is given the tools for success while the operations team is forced to make cutbacks (personnel, equipment, time). THIS IS NOT A KNOCK ON CSR'S OR ACCOUNT MANAGERS. The problem lies with management beyond branch level (upper management and not so much middle management). The sales force did a great job of getting new business and keeping current customers, but even with new demands the operations force is continually asked to do more with less. 


 Job titles on the operations end are misleading. If you touch chemicals at all you are called a "Material Handler" at Univar. Material Handlers at Univar would be Chemical Technicians, Chemical Operators, Blend Operators or any number of things elsewhere. The common hypothesis for this is so that the company can get away with paying these people at a lesser scale than what they would be making under a different title that aligns with the actual work being performed.


The company does offer fair health benefits, paid leave, and 401K, but don't expect anything more than that...no bonuses, no Christmas parties, no team building events, etc...(though we did have them in the past). There is no effort to create pride in the company that you represent. I had pride in the work I did personally, but not for the company that I worked for.

This is my take home message: 
The people I worked with on a daily basis were great. Most of the time everything is just fine at the branch level. Once you get beyond that things get dicey. I would recommend Univar as an employer if you are joining the sales team. I would look for a different employer if you are joining the operations team. If you don't mind being the "red headed step child" or you really need a job then go ahead and roll the dice. I wouldn't do it again.

Been here over 3 years and have finally reached the breaking point. The company's talk of a work/life balance is a joke. I am on my third supervisor this year. One lasted about 2 months.

Our team has been asking for support for months because we are all severely overworked. We are told people are being hired, but the people who have been hired have either quit, been fired for gross incompetence, or don't even make it through training. We are told we cannot take overtime, then our supervisors get on us because we are behind. 

The company treats bonus payments and raises like a national secret. I've worked places where the company was very transparent about how bonuses were calculated and when they are paid. Univar will tell you that you can earn up to a certain amount a quarter, but you never are told how the amount awarded was calculated, and the payment date isn't disclosed until a day or two before it's made. 

After the fiasco that was last year, they brought out a retention bonus this year of $1500 twice a year, but after taxes, that's maybe $900. When the company was Nexeo Solutions, a $1500 bonus was $1500 *after taxes*. It's June and I still have no idea what bonus - if any - is being paid for the past year's performance. 

The company has come up with several incentive programs, but the prizes are jokes, especially in comparison bto the amount of effort required.  We've been told things will change, but when we ask for more details in the plans, we are told they're still being worked on.

Lastly, for a company "Serious about Safety", they seem to be in an awful rush to cram us back into a cubicle farm again. Face it, the bosses don't trust that we are being productive working from home, even though our order counts are much higher. They want us in the office to babysit us, safety be damned.

We start our day off with a daily huddle. This gives us time to recap on the previous day, and to mention anything that our department, or office, can utilize in the future. We then head to our desks and start our individual tasks. Our call volume fluctuates day to day. But, we process orders via telephone, email and fax. 

I have learned how to multitasks beyond what I ever thought i could. I have also learned how to navigate within most of Univar's internal shipping systems.

I am very close with our management team. I feel very comfortable asking questions. And at times, my management team asks me questions and asks for feedback regarding the multiple accounts that I handle. 

I am a team player and will do anything to help my co-workers, and I know they feel the same way about me.I have had the privilege of mentoring some of the newer ones that have come to work in our office. I find it a joy to assist in the training of others. 

The hardest part of my day is, no doubt, giving a customer bad news. It just comes with the territory. At some time, you are going to have to tell a customer something they do not want to hear. Whether it is a shipment that is delayed in transit, a price increase, product does not meet the customers specification, or we just do not have the product available that they are looking for. The key is to be upfront and honest, and stay in touch with your customer throughout the hard time.  

The most enjoyable part of my day is definitely knowing I've assisted, not only the company I work for, but also our customers. We service water municipalities which help produce clean drinking water; food customers that produce our wonderful fruits, vegetables and meats; cosmetic customers who help all of us look and feel our best....and much more. I am happy knowing that I have played a positive role keeping so many companies successfully operating.

When I applied for the role initially, it was advertised as "good work life balance and minimal phone communication". That sounded great, but when I started the job I was very quickly working 10 hour days and on the phone constantly. Work volume eventually slowed, but the bait and switch technique put a bad taste in my mouth. The job is not too hard, though it can at times get very frustrating. You get to work in teams that are very friendly, but good luck ever getting a reasonable pay increase for your work. I was given the most important accounts and told I was performing well above the mean, but was given the same 2.5% raise as everyone else, which didn't even come close to matching inflation rates. Adding to that, they start you as a temp "for six months", however I have seen multiple times, when they convert you to full time, they intentionally take a little extra time so that the official start date was just a few weeks late of being eligible for new year raises. I worked there for nearly 2 years before I was ever given a raise, and when I did, it was less than 3%. They just got new ownership, so maybe that will change, but you will have to claw for every cent. Leadership is so checked out that you might as well not bother to approach them with any of your concerns as they will do nothing about them. Giving three stars because now as volume has slowed, the work day is not too rigorous and you get to work remotely three days a week

Was able to take advantage of excellent sales training opportunity, I was hired as the Regional Sales trainee and under the direct supervision of the successful Regional Sales Manager.  I went through a six month rotation at Univar that included time in Purchasing, Operations, Accounting, Customer Service, and finally the Sales Department.  I was hired upon completion by the Chicago area district Sales Manager.  I learned the importance of customer service through following up with any customer inquires (that could be highly technical) in a timely basis.   All Sales Rep.’s were expected to visit our customers or prospect for new customers four days a week, with Monday set aside for coming into the office for training or office duties.  I had the smallest territory, and focused on increasing sales to existing customers along with prospecting for additional business.  I was successful in bringing in new customers and as a result my territory was expanded into western Iowa and Southern Illinois were we had no existing customers or presence.  The most enjoyable part of the job was completing a sales cycle with a brand new customer.

I know the job market is down, but, would you like to work for a company that you will start working for at the bottom of the payscale during a HIRING FREEZE? Implemented by the company during a BATTLE with the employees/union, (notice not one word about having to join Teamsters local 70 in the job description), concerning the fact that the company we used to work for was BOUGHT OUT in the middle of a contract and our pension is no longer being paid into? On top of this the medical is so poor it will cost you not only a monthly payroll deduction for premiums, but, carries a 3000$ deductable, and after the deductable is met, it will cost you 20% of the total bill. Not to mention that the goal of the company is to DE-UNIONIZE the facility, which will leave the company to decide on everything from horrible wages, to whom they would like to harass, to not recognizing seniority, to never having to pay into a pension trust again. ( A pension trust program, with the Teamsters ) that could be one of the last ways anyone could ever afford to retire. (We all know we can't trust the over-rated 401k). So....good luck......P.S., T.P.G. is the real owner, an investment company, and soon they will flip this company, and things will only get worse.

Was praised highly at interview. Felt great from that, However…After 1 week of onboarding, my ‘team’ was anything but a team. On weeks 3-4 I eventually isolated and communication with my team became blatantly ignored. I felt as if I was an outcast and they were forcing attrition. When I tried to gain further support from upper management, it was literally ignored. They expected me to come in and operate at 100% of the teams level which is entirely unrealistic. All of the praises and accolades and positive things I was told during the interview process didn’t matter anymore, and I felt as if people were just acting during that time. I had no recourse, whatsoever, as I was going through a temp agency. In addition, my recruiter turned into a completely different person. One that was warm and bright and beaming in the beginning, and so really nice to deal with became the exact opposite.

I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone for any position. Ever. This place is easily in the top five of ‘worst places I’ve ever worked’ in my 40+ year working career.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Supply chain specialist 3 salaries reported	$64,333 per year
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$40,000 per year
Account executive 3 salaries reported	$22.00 per hour
Accounts receivable clerk 5 salaries reported	$59,313 per year
Sales support representative 4 salaries reported	$44,250 per year

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