Sun Products Corporation Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Sun Products Corporation full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good company to work for.

Cons – Long hours including overtime for salaried employees

Advice to Senior Management – None

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Clean Work Place, Friendly Atmosphere, Hourly Wage, Located within diving distance of Tri State area, Safety is top priority at Sun Products!

Cons – No Advancement = Union, Forced Overtime, Promised Shift but never get it due to weekly job cuts, Lower and Upper Management skills lacking to the point of hindering production. In addition, 50 + employees are being laid off due to production loss occurring from low wages and new plant just recently built out mid west.

Advice to Senior Management – There is no advice to provide as they will not listen nor do they care.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation full-time for more than a year

Pros – Once you get hired, you are pretty much guaranteed a job until you decide to move on.
This company seems to do well even in a down economy.
Many of the coworkers and management are easy to get along with.

Cons – It is very difficult to move up within this company without a college degree.
There are many temp employees working at the warehouses who have applied to get hired multiple times, but cannot get an interview. I have seen several instances where a full-time temp employee has been doing their job very well for over a year, but the company's hiring process does not favor that experience over a new applicant walking in from the street.
The top performers at the warehouses are not given enough reward for their high performance, and it seems like the low performers are allowed to continue their low performance indefinitely, so there is little incentive for anyone to strive for excellent person performance. This gets frustrating for the top performers who constantly have to deal with other associates who obviously don't care about the quality of their work.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation full-time for more than a year

Pros – The local office category management is pretty good, lots of Silohs in office

Cons – Doesnt look like company will make bonus 3 yrs in a row. Potential to make partial bonus for 2012, but to close to call

Former Employee – worked at Sun Products Corporation full-time for less than a year

Pros – Good experience, not too satisfying, company wants to be a strong player int the market, but still it is hard to compete with Procter and Gamble

Cons – Not too many bad sides, but they could have a better understanding of what the true talent is, management was mostly friendly and understanding

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good work, but do not forget to see people's real talents

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Sun Products Corporation

Pros – Sun provides many work opportunities to interns with little or no hand holding. Management is well organized and communicate project demands effectively. The office culture was friendly, with an emphasis on networking and work life balance for all. Dedicated to the adaptation of SAP. Compensation was competitive. Interns are encouraged to work cross functionally to improve educational opportunities.

Cons – Understaffed, poor communication between regional offices, essential resources were scarce. Human resource management and internal disorganization were among the most difficult issues.

Advice to Senior Management – Better staff research and development, standardize intern requirements, improve on-boarding, and develop better relationships between regional locations. Continue to have fun, and encourage team work.

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation

Pros – Laid-back working environment. Easy going management

Cons – Lot of politics. Disorganized. No opportunity to promote. Lack communication between management and employees

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation

Pros – Friendly workplace atmosphere
Expectation to consistently grow your knowledge and skills to better compete.
Best in class industry competition keeps everyone striving for excellence.
Teamwork driven
Solid compensation package

Cons – Managers often come from drastically different backgrounds which can lead to conflict in deciding the best approach to problem solving

Advice to Senior Management – The strongest possible direction is consistently needed from the CEO to direct reports in order to minimize potential conflicts in how to handle marketplace threats. Having "old school" vs "new school" approaches can be leveraged as a great strength but without strong direction can easily lead to in-fighting and slowing of market response time.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation

Pros – Sun is one of the larger employers in the area, and pays a decent wage for the Bowling Green market. If you don't mind the long hours (12 hour shifts) and rotating days off, the schedule actually works out pretty well for a lot of people. The benefits offered are above average, starting on the first day of work--for everyone, not just management--and everyone starts with 2 weeks of vacation. The majority of the department managers are good and know what they are doing and will treat you fairly if you do your job and are fair to them. The factory itself is clean and the work itself is not difficult or heavy. Sun sometimes posts job openings internally first before recruiting externally, so if you are interested in moving laterally or upwards, it's possible since it is a large organization.

Cons – One of the major downsides is that the night shifts receive very little support or communication from the management, save for a couple of department managers who will make the effort to stay late and/or come in early to touch base with the night shifts. HR support is nil, and employee advocacy is a concept that is foreign to HR at Sun--management is always right no matter what the facts of the situation might be. I hope that this turns around since I have seen other companies unionize when employees feel that nobody is on their side.

The other major downside that I have seen is that there is a great deal of promotions being given based on politics and favortism, and not necessarily one's ability to do the job. This has created a lot of talk and some resentment among the mid-level leadership, and it isn't fair to those who are qualified and quietly come in and do their jobs without grandstanding and playing the political games. It's also worth noting that there are few women in the upper leadership roles at this facility.

There is a major disconnect between the Lean initiatives the company is saying they embrace and the continual creation of more middle-management jobs, which are jobs duplicating or even tripling the efforts of jobs they already have in place and filled...just don't get this part!!!

Advice to Senior Management – 1) Provide support to all shifts/departments equally. With the top-heavy staffing at the location, there is definitely the leadership manpower to do this.

2) Networking is great, we all like to promote those we know, but there has to be a balance. Implement 360 degree reviews, talk to more than one person, do some serious looking at the merits of each candidate before deciding on who to promote. It should be based on merit.

3) More balanced role for HR--Someone has muzzled the HR department but they really should be allowed to be more objective in management-employee conflicts. I've been wrong as a manager, and I'm sure that I am not the only one.

4) Too much middle management being added, and too much duplication of efforts at the location--we don't need any more duplicate jobs here.

5) What works for corporate does not necessarily work for other locations, and this includes here. Go ahead and do what they say so you don't get in trouble, but adapt it to fit Bowling Green.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sun Products Corporation

Pros – As a young professional striving to make it on their own, I've found Huish Detergents/ Sun Products to be a satisfying job and a rewarding workplace. I have observed managment and found them to be fair, competent, fun, but also very serious about their job. They run their offices with an air both casual and professional allowing for an employee to be at ease as well as efficient. This atmosphere makes it easy for an employee to approach a senior member with questions or concerns improving the quality of work. I find personally that I put forth a better effort to avoid disappointing my supervisors than I would if they were removed and aloof from the people they are responsible for. I have observed poor work resulting in discipline and satisfactory work resulting in praise and advancement. The workplace is well maintained and very cleanly, in fact it is the cleanliest and most orderly factory I have ever worked for. Safety is a high priority and taken very seriously, I feel very secure in my work environment. The compensation and benefits package is competitive, I am mostly satisfied with my pay and benefits. Overall, I give four out of five stars to Huish Detergents/ Sun Products as a top employer in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Cons – Training, however, is a bit lackluster. I found myself intimidated by my trainer and very hesitant to approach them with material I was unsure about. Training can be a bi overwhelming and confusing, leaving the employee uncomfortable and confused about the work they are doing. I found approaching employees other that my trainer was the key to making it through training. I also was not provided alot of information in regards to my schedule or equipment I would need for work. However, even after I left training and went to my regular shift, I found my fellow employees very helpful in assisting me with tasks and material I was unfamiliar with. Never once have I been scolded for asking a question.

Advice to Senior Management – My only concern would be more attention to training. It is very scattered and random. I feel standardizing the training program would be most beneficial. Management as a whole is very satisfactory, I feel I have leadership without being monitored too closely.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend