Avantages
(Note - Personal dissatisfaction comes more from the dissonance between my personal goals/ values and current job rather than Arrow itself) The best reasons to work at Arrow: The company is fiscally responsible and it's global. Overall it has done an excellent job cutting operating expenses and establishing practices to minimize loss and RIFs during the recession. The division I work for is financially profitable although sales are down year to year. Culture is not a "work overtime or else" --a 9 hour day is accepted and practiced. Pay is competitive. Older and youthful employees are valued. Somewhat diverse, but almost no cultural diversity. The office I work in is a fairly laid back place to work, with a New England aggression/superiority overlay. It's a cliquish but not malicious group. Management is pretty honest, earnest, and means well.
Inconvénients
(Preface -- much personal dissatisfaction comes more from the dissonance between my personal goals/ values and current job, rather than Arrow itself). Extremely difficult to develop or advance. If you are okay with staying in place, Arrow is a good, stable place to work. Personal Development plans are pure pro forma. Arrow University is a joke. Online development tools are not explained or used well. Management measures performance metrics by how your peers perceive you, so ERP is a bit of a popularity contest. If you're capable but not popular you get low marks. How well you do in a customer satisfaction crisis counts, which often means that customers must become dissatisfied before your performance can be appreciated. Sor the bar ends up staying fairly low. Other than that there are no formal performance monitoring metrics. Tuition assistance and sabbaticals have been suspended. The division I work for was originally high touch. It has flattened out and dumbed down over the years. Sales emphasis is low, order accuracy and service levels are high. Lots of focus around workarounds to existing processes that don't work so well, so there are lots of complex trees branching out from somewhat dysfunctional processes. Teams work around processes or execute real time customer product/inventory inquiries. You feed the job in the limited capacity it requires, the job doesn't feed you nor does it require any creative energy. For a right brainer, It can be an energy drain with few moments of inspiration. Not a lot of strategic or visionary thinking/planning at the staff/group level. When it happens at management level it doesn't get communicated very well if at all. Communication from the top down and laterally has been and continues to be broken with a lot of lip service given to fixing it. Tasks are repetitive. I hear the frustration all around me and it can bleed out to customers.