Pros
Often people only list things that are wrong with the company or attempt to make the company look bad when upset with their experience. Below are listed facts; everything can be fact checked. Hollman offers an In-N-Out truck once a quarter, a company event once every other quarter (they “request” their vendors pay for it), a Christmas party at the CEO’s house, gift cards to each member of the company on Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus company swag at Christmas. They also offer to pay for courses at any Dallas Community College for both the employees and their dependents. This allows for those who may financially struggle to put their kids to college to send their kids to school for free (the kids can then apply for grants after their first 2 years of school). HR sets up appreciation events for the plant employees about once every other quarter. They offer health, dental, and vision insurance. They match up to a certain percentage on your 401k. They provide a financial advisor through BOK. The office has a Halloween costume contest every year and the plant employees vote. The company believes in philanthropy and hosts Hollman Helps events several times a year and the foundation renovates locker rooms for under serviced communities. Music is piped through the office everyday (often the same playlists over and over but it’s still nice).
Cons
The company used to offer snacks, celebrate each person’s birthday, take all core value winners to Mexico, and stock the women’s restrooms with sanitary products. These were all removed when the new president of the company was elected and the company was moving to a new ERP system and was worried about cash flow. The majority of the management team has been in their roles since the early 2000s (+/-) and any new management that has been hired within the last 5 years has been fired. For a lot of the management team, this has been the only company they have ever worked for making it hard for them to be innovative and collaborative (which is ironically two of their core values). The management team has been made aware of what their employees need in order to succeed and the management team has either ignored the employees, chastised the employees for their requests or concerns, or waited too long to fix the problems causing a mass exodus. Approximately 20 people have been terminated or have opted for a new company since January 3rd, 2024. Every sales manager has been fired once they have not hit their sales goal (the sales goal is agreed upon by the COO & CEO - some sales managers have argued some of the goals were not achievable prior to setting the goal- this fell on deaf ears). The most successful leaders run engineering, products, inventory, accounting, and the phenolic plant. They are successful because they listen to their team and provide them the tools they need to hit their goals. They treat their people with respect and encourage communication. However, the most recent promotion was given to a man who spent most of his time with his feet kicked up on a table playing on his phone. He is condescending, knows nothing to very little about the company, often patronizes his colleagues, and makes several women uncomfortable. Many people fear losing their job or being chided for speaking up. While others feel frustration for not being heard or repeatedly hearing false promises. There are times where marginalized people will experience misogyny, discrimination, and discomfort as a result of inappropriate comments or “jokes” from certain members of the management and sales teams. Lead times promised to the customer depending on the materials chosen can range from 4 - 6 weeks, 8 - 10 weeks, or longer. However, more often than not you will experience angry customers who state they have zero communication or experience missed delivery dates. The team that is customer facing receives false information, no information, or information is miscommunicated by another team to the customer’s making the company look disorganized. There is a lot of gossip that is passed around the office, which shows a lack of unprofessionalism. There are certain members of the team who walk around the office or are never at their desk until 4:55 PM rarely completing work on time causing emergencies for others. Like many small companies, nepotism is alive and well. The most tenured members of certain departments have either been with the company 10+ years or 2+ years. Turn over is very, very high - this is why they always have job openings. There is not a lot of career growth unless you want to stay at Hollman. However, it is not impossible but it will take quite a bit of time. You will never meet better coworkers. You will make good friends who are pretty talented. However, you will also meet people who have no idea what they are doing but will attempt to tell you how to do your job. Those people are rarely at their desk. Sometimes they get very weird about what time you come and leave. A comment was made by the COO during a company meeting “if you are leaving at 5:00 PM everyday you are not working hard enough. If you are not anxious about hitting our sales goal, you are not working hard enough and should stay as late as possible.” This job will never be hybrid/remote because during Covid employees apparently were not working. It has been requested several times, the CEO stated he would like to implement one half day during the week, and the COO was upset he introduced the idea to the team. During the ERP migration, multiple employees experienced significant health problems (most being high blood pressure and poor mental health). Morale is currently low. The office used to be very lively and full of laughter, now it’s often quiet and tense. There are several Glassdoor reviews. Please read them. Please take the 5 star reviews with a grain of salt, no company is 5 stars… there is always room for improvement.