manufacturing engineer

equipment service technician

quality engineer

welder

design engineer

American-Honda-Motor

This is an in-depth review is about professional business roles.

Honda truly cares about all associates and their family. The company goes out of its way to ensure decisions that impact the associate population are thoughtful and fair. Benefits provided to associates are generous and very competitive. Each associate's perception about my comments will vary depending upon your role and department. Your professional job experience will vary depending upon the Honda company that hires you and the team you work for. While Honda's intends to treat all associates equality, work-life balance greatly differs between working for the manufacturing company vs. working for the main corporate company or one of its subsidiaries. Interview your manager throughly to understand the team's expectations about hybrid and remote work if that matters to you. 

If you are considering joining Honda, understand the company is founded on traditional Japanese business concepts. Honda is very different from American companies. Respect the core business model and you will succeed here. If you are considering joining Honda as a leader (people leader or SME), expect to put in the work to obtain consensus agreement for all new processes or business changes. 

Business decisions are not obtained fast here, and that is buy design. Outside of specific business impacting topics, expect at least 6 months from concept to business approval. Be prepared to obtain buy-in from all stakeholders, document and present all data to support the concept, and be agreeable to consistently receive feedback and adjust the initial concept based on leadership  review. If you are unwilling or unable to adapt, you are not a good fit for Honda in a business role. In fact, you will quickly get burnt-out and regret leaving your current job to join Honda. Honda will not change because their process works- you must change your mindset to succeed here. 

If you are joining at a staff position, meaning your core job responsibilities are process or operational, you will hit the jackpot by receiving a job offer from Honda. The amount of education and on the job training you will receive at Honda is priceless. Honda deeply invests in their associates by providing high quality learning opportunities, investing in professional development, and continuous education for your specific area of responsibility. Are you a junior level finance person interested in obtaining your CPA? Honda will not only pay for your education, they will also cover the costs to maintain your credentials. Did you accept an entry level job but you are interested in another career path? Lucky you! Honda will pair you with a mentor and encourage you to job shadow so you can reach your goals. Honda wants you to succeed. Their ROI is long-term by shaping your natural skills into a role that supports their business objectives. 

So what's the catch? It's the compensation structure. Honda is a "total rewards" company. A good way to look at this objectively is by reviewing your total salary on your W2. Honda provides a decent base salary, but most of the "comp" comes from other financial incentives. Example- if you are a full-time professional but non-manager, you will receive your base salary plus compensation for actual hours worked beyond the typical 40 hour work week. Honda calls this exempt overtime pay. If you are a full-time professional manager, Honda pays base salary plus provides comp-time for hours worked over your standard schedule. Oh, and the comp-time is paid out if you don't use it (capped at 120 hours). Additionally, Honda provides above average merit increases and cash bonuses. So by the end of the year the actual bring home is considerably more than your base salary and that amount is above average in comparison to market for the same job at a different company. 

One would argue that a basic base salary is not beneficial for long-term wealth building. Honda provides additional offsets to ensure your retirement savings are meaningful. Honda matches your contributions 100% up to 6%, plus they provide additional contributions based on your tenure. Example, if you are a new hire and contribute 6% to your 401K, Honda will match that 6% plus give you an additional 3% of your base salary. In total, you will have 15% of your base salary go into your 401k each year by only contributing 6%. The additional contributions increase the longer you work for Honda. 5 years in they give you 4%, 10 years 5.5%, 15 years 7.5%, 20+ 9%!! If you are 25 now and stay for at least 20 years, by the time you are 45 you will have 21% of your base salary go into your 401K each year and you still are only contributing 6%. (IRS limits applies, of course). 

Here are some additional financial perks outside of base salary:

1. Free manager car, insurance, and service if your level qualifies
2. TWO generously discounted associate lease vehicles for all associates. 
3. $1,000 "lifestyle account". It's basically an additional $1,000 on your base because you can reimburse yourself for daily living expenses. 
4. Very generous vacation, PTO, holiday pay, sick time* and shutdown pay. Honda pays you to take an extended winter holiday break. In 2024 we are paid to take 12/23 - 1/1 off work. If you do work, they will pay you for the hours you work plus give you equivalent paid time off for your trouble. *company paid sick time is limited to the corporate and subsidiary companies. There is no paid sick time if you work for the manufacturing company, you get PTO instead. 
5. Yearly bonus. Actual amount varies on your career level and your personal performance. It's can be ~8% - 20% of your base salary!

Other benefits

1. High quality health insurance with very low contribution rates. Family coverage for the high deductible plan with Honda supported HSA is only $34 a month. The deductible is the lowest allowed, plus they give you $1,800 to offset the deductible. Then it's 90/10 co-insurance!! A PPO plan is also provided, it costs a bit more for family coverage- $122 per month. If you work anywhere else now and have family coverage you understand the value here. 
2. Fantastic and cheap dental and vision insurance. 
3. Honda provides 2x base salary for life and ADD insurance. 
4. Honda pays for STD and LTD. Professionals receive an STD offset to provide 100% base salary at a tired amount depending upon your tenure. 
5. PAID FAMILY LEAVE paid at 100% base salary. It's not a huge length of time, but very valuable if you need it.
6. Survival medical insurance. If you die while employed by Honda, they automatically provides and fully pay for your family's continued health insurance for a full year. If you elect the optional survival benefit, you can add on 5 more years. So that's 6 full years of paid health insurance for your family if something were to happen to you. 

Lastly, good people work here. Honda used to have a commercial that said the nicest people drive a Honda. The vibe is positive. The culture is shaped to keep and retain good people. You will work with passionate and caring people that make you feel like family. Toxic behavior is not tolerated. Speak up and you will be heard and action will be taken to make it better. Those who leave  Honda either can't adapt to business model or don't understand the underlying value Honda brings. You will find many Honda "lifers" working here. While no job is  perfect, this one is pretty close if you adapt and lean into the established process. 


I worked here for 5 years.  This job will kill your soul.  If 20 an hour is worth being treated like garbage this job is for you.  It starts at 15 and then progresses to 20 after 2 years.  Honda seems like  a decent job at first.  Some of the things that sound great are the money, seniority not coming first for job growth,  overtime if your into it, extensive safety programs,  health insurance and etc.  But then you realize is it worth having this crazy rotating shift schedule.  You think wow I'm going to be rewarded for hard work and if some worthless employee that applies for a promotion but has been there longer won't be treated any better. Then you realize this no seniority is really just in place to circumvent hard work and seniority and pick favorites. If you question management decisions you put an x on yourself.  It's best to just keep your mouth shut and get walked on.  You might get some pot luck if you are mindless. Then the safety programs sound great but then you realize it's just in place to blame you when your expected to work in sweatshop conditions. Your going to need that insurance when you realize they're running your body in the ground and the company is quick to be careless about it. There is a positive outcome for this job in some situations.  Use it so that your significant other can become educated and make decent money or if you take this job there's some pot luck for new hires.  I seen some new hires walk in the door and get a job doing absolutely nothing for the most part.  Why this happens I don't know. Be the best blank kisser ever.  There's even a little pot luck in that.  Hopefully if you take that route your team coordinator is also a blank kisser or this probably won't go anywhere.  In conclusion most of the people that are satisfied with this job are people that are in a point in there life where they have no hope in ever finding anything better, pot luck,  or be the biggest blank kisser ever.  This job would be a lot better if there was some kind of real science for promotions and if the management including team coordinators sincerely earned there positions.  90% of the management never deserved there promotions sadly. They care nothing about you or the community it's Hondas way of promoting there company. Everything thing is pretty much a lie.

A typical day at work is mainly working with Excel and software. Work is unsupervised, and employees work at their own pace. The work does get repetitive with redoing the same tasks on a regular basis. Free drinks. Problem solving and working on new projects make for some fun and engaging work, as it allows one to exercise their creativity. However, the work culture is unbearable. The culture in the department does not live up to the company's core values: respect for the individual, initiative, trust and equality.

More on the work culture. There is a heavy reliance on process over people. Employees are not provided input into how their work is done, rather "go through the process" is used to justify following outdated or unclear processes. Any change has to go through multiple levels of bureaucracy and potentially indefinite delay. There are communication and coordination issues due to decision-making being done behind closed doors, and information is released on a need-to-know basis. For example, upper management might made decisions without informing middle management, or one department manager might have decisions affecting other departments without involving them. In addition, there is a culture of fear: the fear of making mistakes and messing up. There is too much focus on getting minor day-to-day details correctly rather than focusing on the big picture and trying to bring value to the company. Heavy inefficiencies result, as employees are too scared to make decisions without approval from above; taking ownership is disincentivized; and typical work that could be done in a few days get stuck in weeks-long limbo as employees wait for approval. This lack of trust and delegation also overburdens middle managers with a large amount of work.

Honda is a great company, but the management and culture in the analyst department need a complete rework. A good starting point would be to take to heart the lessons in Gung Ho, a simple management book. The worksite does have many copies of the book lying around.

A typical day at Honda includes starting out with some stretching and listening to our supervisors tell us what to expect for the day.  The climate inside the plant depends on the weather outside.  Lately, it has been very hot and humid.  I love sweat dripping down my back before 7am in the morning. (not)

I have learned to work with several types of people.  Some a lot easier to get along with than others.  And there are several processes in my area that I have also excelled at completing.  We work for two hours (what they call a quarter) then get a 10 minute break.  Work two more hours and get a 30 minute lunch break.  Work 2 more hours and get another 10 minute break and finally work 2 more hours.     Ten minutes is NOT very much time to run upstairs, among a thousand other workers, grab a snack or drink, go to the bathroom, and be back downstairs at your next station ready to go. 

I am pretty easy to get along with so the majority of my coworkers and I get along.  We like to go out after work sometimes for dinner or a drink.  We try to have fun and joke a lot at work.  It makes the time go by faster.   I would say that is the best part of the job, the friends.  The hardest part of the job is the physical aspect.  Constantly being on your feet or having to jump in and out of the car is hard on the body!!!    

Another bad part is swing shift.  Rotating from days to nights every two weeks.   We work 6:30am to 3pm or from 4:30 pm to 1am.  Sometimes, we are required to work 30 minutes over as well.   It is rough feeling tired all the time and trying to maintain a family life or having fun outside of work.   Recently, Honda has determined to change from swing shifts to straight shifts and I am going to be permanently on night shifts.  This is not going to work for me personally because I have a daughter still in school.  I am starting to look for a permanent day position now.   I am hoping to find a position with your company that would allow that.

I was excited to get the call from a former HR person at Honda Aero. I was told my previous work experience would be a great asset as Honda was looking to bring their jet engine manufacturing in-house. In the interviews, I was told that Honda was big on training and associate develipment and that my previous experience would be invaluable in their efforts to get the machine shop going smoothly. Everything seemed like this was going to be a career advancement. In less than a year, after making many suggestions and seeking a more significant role in manufacturing, I was told by my manager that "we don't need experts right now". Two months later, an associate from another Honda plant was brought in to "help out". In one of my yearly reviews I was told that I was very well paid for what the company asked me to do. I should have left the company that day. No company that gives a darn about their employees should restrict employees income potential by pigeon holing them. I really should have knew the fix was in when I would sit in "improvement" meetings with engineering (imagineering) and not once would the engineers offer anything, but they sure took a lot of notes when the machinists offered up ideas. Myself and the other machinists were nothing more than enhancement talent to prop up the imagineers. Shame on me for staying for 4 years. The only good thing Honda Aero offered was decent pay and great insurance. If you're looking to advance your career and have any pride in your skillset or have the audacity to speak up when improvements need to be made, forget it! Honda Aero covets conformity over skill. If you can sell yourself out without regard to your pride, Honda Aero is your dream job. If you want to improve yourself as a machinist, run like heck the other way!

I have worked for Honda over a year. I was happy to receive employment during the Pandemic. I will start with the pros as most companies are only known for the bad experiences. Honda has multiple shifts as early as 6:00 am-2:30pm this was great because I didn’t feel like I was at work all day. The office is only open Mon-Fri which means weekends you are off. There is no mandatory overtime. The managers are approachable as well. The negative points are. The job is stressful, the customers are experiencing problems with there vehicles and are very upset. It is not uncommon for them to scream and curse at you because of what they are going through. Managers will not take these escalation calls which will happen all day. You are expected to type everything you spoke about with each customer in less than 4 minutes and place it in the database the anxiety can be a lot . The training is poor and you will be very limited on knowledge and rules will change un expectantly. You have to answer a certain amount of calls which can be stressful. If you decided to be in case management you are expected to answer phones and handle customer cases. The cases require an excessive amount of work to resolve, and sometimes there is no solution at all or any help you can give the customer in a horrible situation. You will be expected to call customers with the solution you came up with to help or not. While the cases pile up on your desk. You will also be expected to take inbound calls to help the inbound department at the same time. The customers will be calling you constantly about there cases while you are taking inbound calls which comes first. The unrealistic expectation from management/impossible workload along with stress and poor training is what makes the job hard to enjoy. 

Work wit new model department to attend project meetings.
Prepare the project presentation for the upper management.
- Create project requirement sheet.
- Coordinate and correlate schedule with R&D and Plant side.
- Go through multiple presentations to get project approved from management.
- Establish tooling development schedule with In-house team and suppliers.
- Work with all In-House sections (DE/Design/Fin/QC/PC/Shipping&Receiving) and R&D along with Plant side to carry out project.
- Create investment budget and all detailed schedule from start to end.
- Present divisional project presentation for approval to proceed upper management evaluation.
- Report to upper management for project progress and identify the possible issues and countermeasures as needed.
- Attend molding trials and plant events, get feedback from the result.
- Validate technical items and challenge issues.
- Make necessary changes to meet plant side requirement if needed.
- Coordinate trial machine schedule and mold trials for tooling maturation.
- Get manpower (DE/Design/Fin/QC) ready for all trials.
- Work with suppliers to get mold shipping scheduled before and after the trials.
- Confirm part quality and QC level up by Finishing applications.
- Prepare shipping evaluation and mold trials at plant side.
- Make event parts with plant side mass production machines.
- Conduct coordination meeting with plant side for the reaming concern items and make schedule for launching up MP.
- Evaluate final result with upper management at plant side follow up production start.

This is specific to Honda R&D Americas not overall Honda corporate. It can be a very good place to come to straight out of college. However you should plan on either killing yourself with OT or leaving after a few years. The structure of the company is very flat so there are minimal places for people to move upward. In order to have even the slightest promotion you need to out class all of the others in your department by a large margin as all promotions and bonuses are pooled for each department and they "need to balance things out". I was told after a very minor promotion to expect poor performance reviews for the next few years as they need to "spread the promotions around". I had some amazing experiences in my 12 years there, however within Honda R&D everything is so hyper proprietary you don't gain many skills that are easily compared to industry standards. In terms of pay they are unique in that you can be salary but have straight time OT past 40hrs. On the surface this sounds good, especially when they say things like "every place will expect 50+hrs/wk at least we pay you for it". But, this is basically their way of continual understaffing, they call it "being lean". It is cheaper for them to pay 2 people for 12hr days than to hire 3 and have them work 8hrs. Health care has gotten worse every single year and they are obviously pushing to get everyone into a HSA as it is the cheapest option. In general they are structured to burn out engineers and turn over departments every couple years. 

I was actually very disappointed with Honda as a whole. They talk about respect for the individual, core values, and mission statement which makes Honda appear to be a rewarding place to work and have a career; however, that is not the case in reality. They do not have a union, but their is a union mentality, where seniority counts for more than job performance or skill set.  I have seen people be promoted to management positions based on their clock number more than their actual leadership abilities, which leads to a trickle down effect of poor management and poor communications. 
    There is a large rift that Honda has created between their "Honda" employees and the employees they get through temp agencies. These "temps" are doing the same work and held to the same quality standards yet get paid less, have less vacation days, less medical time off, and a pitiful benefits package. Example: A temps health care package will cast them $59.00 per week for an individual while a Honda employee's health care package will cost $30.00 per week for a family. They the coverage is not as good for the Temp employees. 
    Also there is no clear path for promotions for Honda employees or temps. The temps are put into a lottery for getting hired and can't even apply for new positions until they are hired. Many Honda employees struggle with how to move up, and often get discourage when they keep getting different answers. The upper Management seems to be in constant fluctuation which makes it hard to establish consistency. Projects that were started with one supervisor get forgotten with the change over, this leads to frustration and a decline in employee satisfaction.

Assembly line work. You got to change processes every 2 hours so that you are not standing and doing the same thing for an 9 hour shift. I worked 2nd shift which is called B shift. Mon-Sat 430pm-1am and Fri 330pm-midnight. Anytime after your daily 8 hours is overtime paid to the exact minute. Which is unusual. 

My main issue was the the drive from my home. A 40min drive there and back everyday puts wear on your car. The factory is huge it takes an average of 5-10 to get to your area from the parking lot, depending on location. 

You earn paid sick days and paid days off, also reciev emergency non paod days in case they are needed. The beat part is that you get 2 weeks a year off paid. The week of July 4th and the week between Christmas and New Year. 
The company is great with qorking with new mothers, I dont know how much maternity and paternity time you get paid. But both parents do get paid time. New moms also have a nice personal space that is available to be able to pump if they need to and they are given time each shift; which is paid and also decided between the mother and her management team. 

All employees are treated the same if you are a temp or hired in, there is no difference besides the company which pays you. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Manufacturing engineer 39 salaries reported	$86,094 per year
Equipment service technician 6 salaries reported	$38.51 per hour
Quality engineer 22 salaries reported	$83,670 per year
Welder 1 salary reported	$33.55 per hour
Design engineer 4 salaries reported	$76,000 per year

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