Pros
The company really does make customer service it's number one priority. The showrooms are top of the line compared with other companies in the industry. Other facilities rate on par within the industry as well. It's a large corporation, which can also be a con. Benefits were very good when I started in the summer of 2007. You can live on the paycheck, but you won't be living lavishly and you do put in the hours for it. I really like the majority of the people I work with. Bi-weekly pay is nice (for hourly associates).
Cons
Overall, Ferguson is way behind the times, technologically speaking. When I started in 2007, they were still using "dumb terminals" (basically a screen and keyboard plugged into the network). I thought I had gone back to 4th grade and we were going to start playing The Oregon Trail. They have since removed all these and use PC's that have software to emulate the dumb terminals. So they are still stuck with the same 1990's looking interface. An SAP solution is inevitably coming, but should have been here now. The "sales-management trainee program" was not fast paced enough, nor did it have near enough sales or management training in it. Back to the earnings, they were okay at first working 50 hour weeks and being paid hourly. Your overtime is calculated into your figurative "salary", so when they cut you back to 45 hours a week, you can really feel that, half of your overtime is gone. We are mules that are fed every two weeks and we get a tiny carrot once a year, depending on how the company does overall. They recently cut back the 401k matching program to 50% for the first 2% you elect to save. Communication is a big issue from upper management down to the trenches. When I hired on everything was about employee empowerment. It seems like all the time I feel like any power I may have gets taken away. The outlook for future growth anywhere in this industry is very grim right now. Ferguson has let 10,000 employees go since I started in 2007. It has been a very stressful time, with everyone worrying about their jobs, not knowing if they may be next on the chopping block. To make this situation more stressful, during some of the "corporate right sizing", we had some of our customers walk into our branches and ask us (tell us) that our branch was closing, before the management team informed us of the situation. The overall management style I have experienced is that management tends to see employees as stupid and incompetent. Leading to micro-management tactics. The company also seems to struggle within the marketing department. In 2009, we came out with our first nationwide TV ad campaign to promote showroom business, not sure who picked out the story board back at HQ, but I was less than impressed. Overall feelings with my first job out of college experience so far leave me thinking, "is this what every job is like?"