analyst

project manager

consultant

mechanical engineer

software engineer

FORTNA

Working here is like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. I worked 60hr weeks for months, and traveled internationally (with 1 week warning), for a project that there was no contract for. As it turned out, the company did not get that contract... so all that work was all tossed. This is pretty representative of the company management and approach as a whole.

On the plus side, salaried project engineers receive straight time pay for OT (design engineers are hourly employees and get 1.5x for OT). Since 50-60 hour weeks are mandatory for all roles, that's at least something. The company would rather have fewer employees working themselves to death than more employees with enough breathing room to innovate.

The material handling field is only growing in importance. This company has major, ongoing contracts with key client companies. If you can dig in, and put in the work, you'll have great experience to list on a resume for your next job.

Middle-management is given little to no training, and as such provides little to no feedback to the underlings except annual reviews. Zero support for career growth. Expect to be told never to do one thing in week one, and then questioned why you didn't do that in week two. 

Benefits are poor. Employee share of benefit costs is high, and minimum deductible is $1000. PTO is 10 days/year, use it or lose it. No increase in amount of PTO for a full 10 years. January 1, no one has any PTO. It is "earned" through the year. Unused PTO is not paid out. 5 personal days/year. 

Workplace culture is poor - small satellite offices are worked to the bone, no time for (or interest in) team building. The company touts many perks that are only available to those based at their Louisville, KY headquarters. 

Lots of corporate double-speak. Don't be fooled - the company does not care about employees or retention. Better hope you don't get sick or disabled/injured, they will not discuss how to accommodate you, and will let you go without a second thought.

Fortna acquired MHS in early 2023.  MHS was once a growing and flourishing company that I was proud to be a part of. Since Fortna took over, I have never seen something go from such great highs to such deplorable lows so fast. In a matter of roughly 9 months, they’ve turned this company into something unrecognizable. The morale and company culture is dismal at all Kentucky facilities. The Fortna executive leadership team is disgustingly out of touch with reality and what their employee’s and customer’s needs are. They’ve demonstrated it by squandering work away by demanding jobs be bid at higher profit margins while also having massive layoffs and cutting the pay of countless remaining engineering and office staff. Our profit sharing bonus has been reduced every single year and with the new Fortna leadership, they’ve created a new structure with impossible goals dependent on revenue, bookings and EBIDTA. Our health insurance is the worst I have ever had and I pay for the second most expensive policy.  The work environment is very siloed and cut-throat. It’s basically up to you to figure out how to do your job on your own because training and functional processes are near nonexistent.  This company is extremely top-heavy with management. There are multiple management positions with little to no direct reports and in some groups, managers nearly outnumber employees! 
I will never be able to truly explain in words or paint a picture of how horrible a place to work this is. If you’re reading this and considering a job here, from one stranger on the internet to another, I beg you to please reconsider. This place is extremely toxic and you don’t deserve to be treated the way they treat people. Thanks!

FORTNA (MHS Global) offers strong exposure to large-scale automated material handling systems and high-profile clients, particularly within logistics and distribution. The company provides opportunities to work on complex operations and gain experience managing multi-site service programs.
The work environment is fast-paced and can be demanding, especially in customer-facing roles where performance expectations and SLAs are high. This can be a great fit for individuals who are comfortable operating in dynamic environments and managing multiple priorities simultaneously.
Leadership and organizational structure can vary depending on the region or business unit, which may impact consistency in communication and decision-making. There are opportunities to contribute to process improvements and influence operational strategy, particularly for those with prior experience.
Overall, it’s a solid place to build experience in maintenance services and automation, though success often depends on adaptability and the specific team or leadership you work under.

MHS grew way too fast for their own good. They went from a "mom n pop" shop to huge corporation at break neck speed. Work is always "under the gun" to meet deadlines. Numerous reasons including poor scheduling, poor assigning of qualified workers and spreading the quality workers too thin. Overtime is pretty much constant and workers get burnt out, leading to mistakes and yet more rework/OT.
Management was decent at one point, but all the good managers have since left and most of those who are left are brown-nosers.

The rank-and-file people are some of the best you'll find for sure. A lot of their knowledgeable people have all left or retired.

Management preaches about "not working in silos" yet they themselves cause you to keep working within these silos, it gets very aggravating.

Engineering management alone currently has 5 levels until you get to the Director and frankly, most of the good managers have all left. There are a few holdouts, thankfully, or I'd be leaving too.

Cutthroat environment - stay away! MHS is a very cutthroat environment. They reward those that target others for their own ambitious goals, while penalizing those that achieve accomplishments on their own merit. It's a hostile work environment. They also lied about their ESOP, on-boarding new employees during a secret acquisition period, knowing the ESOP would be obsolete. They retained those employees by introducing a stock option, with no intent of ever paying that out. You will be constructively terminated before you ever collect on the stock options. MHS obviously has an actuary, actuating the employee mortality and retention such that they will retain enough employees to achieve their selfish goals. They highly impact employees and use them up with no consideration on how it impacts the employee. I felt like it was a great place to work and often touted to new hires they can expect security there, only to have the snake turn on me. Potential candidates be warned!

Before the corporate greed took over, FORTNA was a fantastic place to work! You got to work with a wide variety of tech, there was no manager breathing down your neck, unless of course you weren't doing your job. I did learn quite a bit of new skills working here, systems I've never been exposed to like conveyor hardware, PLC controllers and robotics. I can't say much for working in-office but the remote work was decent, kept me busy and being much more productive than having to commute and put up with the office BS. All of that went out the window after the merger, cut backs, micro-managing, the workings of big corporate America! I would not recommend working there any more! 

Depending on your position, you either spend you life in a hotel room or work 9 to 5. 
Some people are micromanaged, some are not managed at all. Either way, it's not effective, considering the number of management layers there are.
Workplace is distributed in places like South Africa, Vietnam and Columbia, as well as in various places around the US (Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania. This makes for communication difficulties which impact interoffice communication.
Some people are outright hostile. There is a lot of infighting between departments.
Two rounds of layoffs this year (2017). Who's next?
Awkward and unreliable timesheet system. Filling out timesheets is sometimes onerous.
There is always turnover. The basis of the companies knowledge is held in the heads of a few. Fewer as more people leave.
All in all, they mean well.

I've been at MHS/Fortna since before the merge. It was definitely a challenging time making that transition, but things are getting better and going in a good direction. There is a clear vision for the company, and I feel that leadership is consistent about it. 

Pay is fair. Work life balance in my division is good. The work is challenging and there are opportunities for growth. It depends on your perspective, but I think the benefits are good. 

The cons: The merge of the global organization is still in process, so processes, tools, and systems aren't consistent yet. That creates some challenges, but you can see constant improvement. This industry is either doing great or doing bad, so that creates some turbulence for job security. Fortunately, the strong years are typically several in a row followed by 1or 2 weak years. 

It's a good place to be with decent pay, great until the 16 leads and supervisors treat you like 2nd hand person. You can go above and Beyond and the supervisors will rub it in your face that they got bonuses for you working hard while you don't get squat. 
Safety - forget about it. Don't even need a hard hat with a crane, deaf, cocainne addicted, blind your perfect for drive a hilo very fast. It's ok to hit people, jeez I got hit twice with no repercussions to the driver.
Management- the biggest one great, always has an answer,  always willing to help you as a person. Rest are about just useless. You have 6 supervisors for 40 people just doesn't make sense, then turn around each area has a leader that just crys all day long.

I really enjoy working with my direct team here and am paid exceptionally well for what I do. The C-Suite and upper management are all talk and word service with no backing or follow thru unless it is for budget cuts. We are in the midst of a merger that is going painfully at the moment but there is light for my department at least if you believe the talk of mid-level management. Advancement seems stalled at the moment I was promised to move up in a year or two and it has been 3 going on 4 now stuck in my current level and it is getting old. I feel pigeonholed into one thing and want to learn more but am kept too busy to effectively learn more.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Analyst 6 salaries reported	$73,667 per year
Project manager 4 salaries reported	$120,583 per year
Consultant 3 salaries reported	$92,667 per year
Mechanical engineer 1 salary reported	$82,650 per year
Software engineer 1 salary reported	$106,500 per year

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