field service technician

regional sales manager

operator

technical advisor

senior operator

Hach Company

Micro-management, finger pointing, nit-picking to the nth level and incompetent leadership rule this place with an iron fist.

I was brought in as a contractor with 'the possibility' to be hired on after my 3 year assignment.  This of course, never materialized and I was abused up to my last day. 

To start, I was given the ol' bait and switch regarding my job.  I was supposed to do DB / UI work for a new application.  However, when I arrived for my assignment, I was given an archaic Visual Basic app designed somewhere around the late 90s.  This is like being promised a new Italian Sports Car and ending up with a Yugo.

Second, no one was really eager to teach you how to do your work.  There was FAR too much assumed knowledge for a position of this type.  Learning a new software product for a specific industry takes time and proper training.  One needs to be brought up to speed on the industry to understand the benefits the software has to offer.  Simply throwing you in a 2 week crash course with people that may / may not know what they are doing is not the best way to train a new user.  All of my progress was based on mistakes rather than success.  I was repeatedly called out for 'mistakes' in my work that were caused by Project Managers not telling me (in all likelihood, not knowing) the correct methodology or customer needs.  

I would send emails, leave voicemails and use messengers to get in touch with managers that hardly, if ever got back to me.  If I did have a question and a manager actually answered the phone, I was told to call support.  Support is even more worthless than management.  The reality was, I had to figure everything out on my own.  Sink or swim.  No help. 
By the end of the 3 year stint, all of my knowledge was a direct result of my own efforts.  Sadly, all of it was proprietary knowledge based on a dying tech stack that amounts to zero experience and applicability to every other tech career path other than Hach.

In the end, it breaks down like this:
No one cares about you.  
If you are not in the 'clique' you are pond scum.
I felt management 'thought I was lucky' to have a job here.  

When my contract was over, I was told to apply for my job.  I had the interview and they offered me HALF of my old salary.  They then said that 'they would get back to me.'  I received a confusing and horribly worded letter stating I was not chosen for the position: "We decided to move forward with other candidates OR have cancelled the position"

????????????????

Moving on.

On my last day, I received a call from my 'replacement' who wanted me to bring them up to speed on the current project.  He wanted to set up a meeting for a knowledge transfer the following week.  After my contract was over.  For free.

I will let you guess how that conversation ended.

There are far better options in Northern Colorado for employment and I strongly suggest you seek them out.

The pay is good and in certain positions the hard work can be rewarding if you look at it as good exercise. Factory stuff so you're not going to have to worry about customer service. The benefits are nice if you happen to get lucky enough to be hired on above the temps. However, the environment is unpleasant (It is a factory, after all), but the real horror is how management goes out of it's way to make sure the job gets more and more miserable. Constant overtime, all the time, is mandatory - if you need money, that's great, but when month after month after month goes by and all you do is work, eat, and sleep most days it becomes insanity-producing. Anything you can find to enjoy about it will be hunted down and slaughtered. Before I left they were hell bent on changing slightly interesting jobs into mindless assembly-line production, even with the expressed disagreement of the entire workforce. Their attendance policy is also pretty ridiculous. You may call-in 3 times over a rolling 6month period, and after that you start becoming a "problem". Even if you're sick, have a doctor's note, whatever, it's counted against you. You will feel like a numbered monkey; unfortunately you're very replaceable with another poor schmuck from the temp agency, so they're quite content with a revolving-door workforce that can make Wal-Mart look long-term. Could be a great place to work, but instead they make it nightmare, and I only heard stories of it getting worse and worse after I called it quits. Only dare it if you really need some good pay for a while. By "good" I mean roughly 9-15/h depending what you're doing.

I liked it at first when I was hired but that’s because I was unaware of what I was getting myself into. First I was trained by a guy who had only been working for 2 months instead of a more experienced employee (which I knew for fact there were multiple guys who had been there 10+ years). I don’t fault him, he didn’t know a whole lot but he told me everything he knew. Fast forward after the probation period, I was “done” with my training and put on my own which didn’t go well at all because I wasn’t actually properly trained instead I was critized because I didn’t know everything, maybe I would’ve if I had a more experienced trainer and the machines weren’t complete trash. The machines were always breaking down because Hach is too cheap to replace anything instead you just taped it all back together and just rolled with it, otherwise you get yelled at for the machine not constantly running or you’d have a mechanic grumpily half  fix it. The only plus about going in everyday was my fellow coworkers, they were nice and amazing to work with even though the job was utter garbage. If you needed help they were always there to help in light of a bad situation. I thought the breaks, time off and hours were fine but the rate of pay for the department I was in was low honestly compared to the guys upstairs who basically did the same job as us and got paid twice as much. All in all if you are looking to work here I personally wouldn’t but you need to have tough skin or just a care free attitude maybe you’ll handle it unlike me. And also get ready for zero training and poor management.

Hach could benefit from more part-time positions and an entirely new facility with more space. Every square foot of that facility is already used for something. As a result, there's no privacy.

Ten-minute morning department meetings kept us feeling in the loop and like a team. 

The QC lab's culture was genuinely good because both beginners and veterans would easily ask nearby co-workers for advice on tricky chemical tests. 

Even hard-working, well-liked, and/or professional co-workers vanished permanently without warning, and not necessarily of their own choice. 

Co-workers' professionalism was impressive but cold. (Before Hach, I had never worked at a company where nobody never says good morning or hello to any of their co-workers.) 

Good benefits such as company clothing stipend IF you last several months. (When you do your laundry at home, you'll see corrosive burns in your pants and shirts often.)

It's very draining work but didn't require any work to be taken home. 

You won't get constant emails, voicemails, or text messages when you're on-duty or off-duty.

Working in a department full of people who always keep their emotions in check is good for running accurate QC tests.

It's impossible to leave the facility long enough during your lunch break to get fast food for lunch, fill up the gas tank, pick up kids from day care, or run to the bank.

Hach  Co is located in Colorado.  It is  a scientific company. The diversity of uses for their producti is  impressive.  I have  always being interested in having clean water for us and for new generations to come. Hach's product gave me an insight of the water condition around our planet.   My responsibility at Hach was to work for the credit/ export department.   I got to know all my co-workers; a fine  group of nice ladies  and a gentleman,  They were all very good in their doing  jobs  and  treated each other as family. That was nice.  I got to watch the  Finance Manager of the company;   I liked  his management style. He felt  comfortable dealing in groups as he gave the chance for everyone to ask questions.   Majority of the employees working for Hach are long time employees.  Meaning; working there,  it felt as if I was working in a small city.  Their Kitchen was one the bes; it offered delicious  and cheap food.  Hach became even a better place  to work for as the drive from  home  was  beautiful, it was hard to no take time to get there. Then, as all  good things come to an end, I had to relocate back to Los Angeles were I am now.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Benefits are good but that’s how they hook people to stick around 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Too much redundant paperwork so you can’t get your primary job done. Management blames the employees when the management are the ones making mistakes. They come up with a new program every time there’s a situation they don’t know how to handle.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very poor, I have never heard an employee say anything nice about the company, which is very sad.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Confusing most of the time because you’re not give it enough time to complete your work, and especially all the paperwork that Management requires. Management talks about how important customer services the customer but they don’t give service people and dispatch people enough time to offer that customer service to the customer or taken in consideration that’s a problem. Customer could be having maybe more involved once a service technician gets on the job site. not all problems are the same!

The Lead Field Service position was a balance of technical work and supervising/managing employees in a fast paced environment. The equipment that was repaired and serviced was analytical located in the field and in the lab. The equipment was used for water quality analysis and was instrumental for customers in helping to meet strict local and federal regulations. I also managed 15-20 individuals within the territory and worked closely with my divisional manager to enhance my skills and become a better leader and manager. The goal was to improve on the technical aptitude and efficiency of the technicians in order to best serve the customers and make them the best technicians they could be. I tracked numerous metrics and analyzed the data to see where improvements could be made both with the technicians and within the business model. This helped to not only provide superior customer service with qualified technicians but it allowed us to grow the business.The hardest part about the job was finding a good work life to personal life balance as it was a demanding job with a lot of travel. The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to help others to become better at what they do.

not good not bad, no training, some coworkers couldn't read, listen, or see and your not given addiquit tools to support them. 

Managers say they value your input but disregard it as soon as you suggest it, upper management wants input about their department during reviews but tells you to go through your manager to relay that information to him....your manager will disregard what you say and doesn't talk about it....


There is a very very huge communication issue as this company...

Wages are decided by unethical practices that every corporation follows in regards to deciding fair pay...(Just because one company pays bare minimum doesn't mean you should match that)

This job is very stressful. 

My co workers were semi professional with work ethic at most. 

If you want to work for a company where every manager and co worker understand the real world and what it means to function with realistic goals and plans this is something the company is good at except sales....they project to high.

Hach is this great unknown gem in Northern Colorado. 70+ years in business; feels like a start-up with the stability of a long-term successful corporation behind; most inspiring is the fact that I am able to work for a company that takes water quality around the globe serious --there are few things in live that are just as or more important. 

Employees are held to high standards, they work hard, it is fast-paced and  you don't see people stand around a water cooler and chat for 30 minutes, but they also have fun and you learn so much - I like this environment, but it isn't for everyone. Collaborative cross-functional teamwork environment.

I have never worked for a company that offers the kind of development opportunities and training opportunities and takes promoting within so serious.
 
The hardest part of my job and probably many jobs out there is to juggle meetings, projects, etc. that are so common in a corporate culture, while also making or trying to make an impact in the actual job for which you were hired for.

Culture has been going downhill for several years.  Management expects you to put in well over the 40hrs/wk without compensation or comp time.  Travel for the company is very strict and look for lowest fares.  Regardless of role or frequency of travel they expect you to take the least fare and always sit in the rear of the plane.  I do not recommend traveling for this company.

Management - not leadership (I'm still trying to find leadership at the company) - is very hard and noses buried in spreadsheets and numbers.  If you don't hit the numbers you are in trouble.  They want you to act like a manager but trash you in the end because you are overstepping the boundaries.  If you want to move up you need to be a brown-noser and have certain degrees.  Very little room for moving up in the company unless you are in the special crowd.

I enjoy working with my coworkers and interacting with customers.  Providing quality instrumentation to customers for water quality is important and there is a need in the world.

Overall, if you find a good manager and department then work is a joy.  But there seems to be a lot of the other way of things.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field service technician 36 salaries reported	$31.11 per hour
Regional sales manager 31 salaries reported	$98,952 per year
Operator 18 salaries reported	$19.94 per hour
Technical advisor 12 salaries reported	$25.73 per hour
Senior operator 14 salaries reported	$21.18 per hour

Working at Hach Company: Company Overview and Reviews

Hach Company

Hach Company Ratings

Popular jobs at Hach Company

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected