Rust-Oleum reviews

3.4

47% would recommend to a friend

(256 total reviews)
avatar

Jeff Ackerberg

92% approve of CEO

49% positive business outlook

Rust-Oleum has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 256 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Rust-Oleum employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

256 reviews
3.0
Jun 30, 2021

Was great, until it wasn't

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work life balance. RO is a sales driven organization, so if you are on the sales team you are treated well. Lots of new products introduced every year. Pension & 401k matching offered. Company car for field sales.

Cons

Around 2017, a lot of senior sales management started retiring. Their replacements, while qualified, changed the culture for the worse and played favorites. Relocation to the HQ in Vernon Hills, IL is required to get into sales management. Unfortunately the increased salary offered for those positions does not cover the cost of living increase for relocating to an expensive Chicago suburb. Lots of new products are introduced every year but many are rushed to market and have formulation or performance issues. This led to messy recalls, upset customers, and lawsuits. Sales was regularly given "cover" stories to feed to customers to minimize liability. These stories often involved blaming product failure on the end user applying the product incorrectly even though RO knew it was a formula issue. Pay is below industry standard and bonus program is really flawed. Many in sales felt that achieving one's bonus was out of his control. One could max out many of the bonus categories but if the sales quota was missed then you received no bonus. There were several people I know of that missed out on their bonus because RO ran out of product to ship.

2.0
Feb 7, 2014

Great, if you are in the "in club"

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Investment in the facilities, good benefits, good work-life balance. Makes a lot of money and is generous with bonuses. Lots of events to keep employees entertained.

Cons

Very top heavy. Upper management is too involved with lower level decisions. If you disagree with upper management, might as well start looking for a new job. Very reactionary management team with poor strategic planning and vision. Lots of cliques of people. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are looked at like an outcast. Teams are understaffed, yet they spend millions of dollars making improvements to the building.

3.0
Jan 1, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay and benefits. Nice people. Fun employee appreciation events. Nice office environment and facilities. Company spends a lot of money on improving the work space and equipment. If you need something to make your job better or easier (like a piece of software), they are OK if you go buy it.

Cons

Not enough parking for all employees. The management style is very top down. They are heavily involved with daily minutia, which is distracting and causes unnecessary delays in projects. Executive management should be focused on strategic vision and not daily operations. They try to run the company like a small business, but sales are over $1 billion dollars. That formula will not work long term. Many of the newest people they have hired recently are frustrated and ready to resign.

Viewing 10 - 12 of 256 Reviews

Glassdoor has 324 Rust-Oleum reviews submitted anonymously by Rust-Oleum employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Rust-Oleum is right for you.