Good corporate experience - Business Development Leader Dow Employee Review

4.0
12 Jan 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Dow is a large company, and offers the opportunity of moving between roles and gaining a breadth of experience. They are major part of a keystone industry.

Cons

It is a very large corporation, and it is hard not to feel like a cog in a giant machine. Management and coaching is not encouraged or rewarded, so little opportunity for mentorship and guidance beyond your own wherewithal. Dow is a bit of an old boy's club, and promotions are influenced by who you know and have worked for and how much political capital they have with leadership. The industry is old fashioned and lacks an innovative and face paced environment, and this is true through much of the company. Dow wants to be an innovative technology leader, but is caught in its hedge between old school commodities for which cost cutting and efficiency are the keys, which are its bread and butter, and advanced technologies further up the value chain. Dow isn't risk tolerant to place the financial bets and invest in a different type of human resource to really transform as a company.

Explore other reviews about Dow

5.0
16 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Culture and the technical expertise within the company provide for a working environment where you don't work in silo and everyone is willing to help support you

Cons

Administrative systems can be burdensome to overcome.

2.0
22 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Safety culture, flexibility (although less and less over time). Good health insurance and 401k match

Cons

Dow’s recent years illustrate the challenges of trying to simultaneously satisfy Wall Street’s demands for strong financial performance and aggressive DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) priorities. The company has heavily emphasized inclusion initiatives, including its openly gay CEO publicly sharing that coming out was one of the best days of his life in an internal communication, along with a notable increase in women appointed to senior leadership roles. Hiring practices reportedly require diverse candidate slates—including female candidates—and diverse interview panels before filling positions. These efforts, while well-intentioned, appear to have contributed to a series of questionable strategic decisions. Employees have borne the brunt through repeated rounds of layoffs (including significant cuts announced in recent years), minimal merit increases often in the 2-3% range, stalled promotions, and little turnover at the top levels of leadership. Senior executives seem insulated from the consequences, potentially overlooking how these factors—including their own leadership—may be central to the company’s ongoing struggles.

2
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All