automotive technician

service advisor

sales consultant

car sales executive

service technician

Honda

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  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 2nd shift. I finally had enough recently. They preach about "respect for the individual" and "if you see something wrong, report it" this place literally does the complete opposite. You can't stick up for yourself or you are instantly outcast. If you report anything wrong, they act like they will do something but actually just sweep it under the rug. And if one of the tc's or managers does something against honda policy, don't waste your time reporting it because the phrase "I will always have my tc and manager's back" has been said before, by a shift lead. 
And good luck getting a different position here. You have to brown nose, do tc's job for them, work a ton of overtime, be a buddy or be in a relationship with a higher up to get any other positions here. They aren't a fair based place and there isn't a ton of opportunities here, regardless of what they try to sell to you in the beginning. 
If you want first shift, this job is not for you. You have to be there for 5 years (full-time, not including the once mandatory temp time) to get the chance to go to 1st shift. 
Also, there is vitually no personal time. You get 3 emergency time days a year, but they pull that from your pot of personal paid time. Which is very few to begin with. The first full year you work there you only get 5 days. Its absurd. 
And don't dare have a relationship here. The management will harass you. Literally. Its insane how many times I've seen people get in trouble for giving their significant other a hug. Which ok, i get it, we are at work. Except, for some messed up reason, management is totally ok with people who are cheating on spouses and significant others, to (hug, kiss, hold hands) with someone else? Literally makes no sense. 
Yea, the pay looks great on the outside. But to be completely honest, Honda doesn't pay as much as they should. You work your butt off there. Yes, its a factory. But they don't follow safety standards. They don't even follow their OWN safety standards. I can't tell you how many times I saw people on the same job for multiple quarters in a row. On top of that, they have ATI contracted to "help" with aches and pains. But they almost always say you got hurt at home. Or they tell you to ice it and take ibuprofen and then push it off for another couple weeks without doing anything about it. You are left working on the line for months with the same pain before you actually go in to see anyone in medical. Plus, they have a "nurse" there who doesn't have her license anymore and has told people that they can't have carpal tunnel because they are "too young". Their medical staff is a joke. I know of someone who broke her finger on line and when she went to medical, they couldn't get the xray machine working, so they sent her back to the line to work. The next day when they xrayed it, it was broken. Nothing got done about that either. Just sweep it under the rug, like they do everything else! 
If you value your own health,  your morals, and your mentality, DO NOT WORK HERE. 

Work/life balance is all based on there needs to make more money for the company needs.(special groups at hmin needing more funds for traveling to different countries). Hmin produces the most vehicles in North America yet you don't see the compensation for it and each year they take more and more of what used to be your benefits. Oh, and security is joke! Anybody could walk in using somebody's badge. Oh, but god forbid you park in the visitors parking spaces because that's certainly a risk to the company. We definitely need 120 parking spaces for all the celebrities visiting the small town factory. Now managment is best part about this wonderland. The higher ups are constantly preaching the Philosophy of Honda and how this company treats everyone equally. Speak up about any issues and your boss will help you in any way possible. That's until your actually on board what really happens in the factory. If you have any issuses at all they tell you to suck it up if you aren't a favorite. Your boss can treat you like s**t and the higher ups decide that you are the issue and will defend your boss by giving you a warning for behavior. Oh, and you can't have a normal relationship with a significant other at work or your a perfect target for harrassment from the big wigs. But, it's 100% okay for married men to to sexually harass women and say anything they want without consequences. If they have a decent position and end up in HR. All they do is a slap on the wrist and go back to work. But, if you dare speak up about getting harassed.  "It's a factory, what do you expect." That's the biggest reason why people quit this place to begin with. Oh, and every year they give us a survey and wonder why moral is at its lowest. Now for the job opportunities! Anybody can become whatever they want at hmin. If your the worst associate in your area...Boom promotion, so that your boss can pass the torch the next group. Want to become a boss...Boom have buddy give you all the answers to TC test. Then you can brag about how good you are and how far you've came. Knowing darn well you have no idea what your doing and people have no respect for a whiner that uses guilt to get stuff done in the area. What to become an engineer but don't have a degree....Boom welcome to the group of men that stand in a circle and watch one guy work on a machine thats down...because let's be honest... you're going to just blame it on Associates to make you feel better about not knowing what your doing. Every other group you want to apply for requires a inner circle friend test. To wrap it all up. If Hmin actually applied it's philosophy all the way around it would be a wonderful place to work....but sadly it's already a web of higher ups nit picking the rules and applying it to the trouble makers.(People who actually speak up about issues that could help better the company and employees around them)

I've worked at Honda of Clear Lake since 2003.  HCL is one of 14 Honda dealerships in metro Houston - a very dense and competitive milieu (for contrast, DFW has seven Honda dealerships, Bexar County/San Antonio, four).  
HCL has had the same owner (John Eagle) since 1991, and the same managing partner and GM (Tom Tyrrell and Harvey Bishop, respectively) since 2002.  Our nearest Honda rival has had four different corporate owners over the same period.
Honda's top recognition for dealership quality is the President's Award, available to every one of ~ 1100 dealers annually, earned by 5 or 6 percent.  HCL has earned the PA eight times this century.  We have the top-rated Honda service department in our region.  We provide systematic initial and ongoing training in sales processes that have increased sales volume more than 300 percent and profitability more than 400 percent during the current management team's tenure.  
The company promotes from within, based on merit; every supervisor in sales, our F&I director and most of his staff, began as a floor sales reps at HCL.  And we're moving to an all-new, state of the art dealership this year - four times as big, ten times as nice as the aging facility where we've accomplished so much.
Last year, six of our sales reps earned corporate recognition from Honda's Council of Sales Leadership; we're working to double that number this year.
The pay plan promotes cooperation and teamwork: everyone's pay draws from one revenue pot, and the upstream personnel do well as and only as the downstream workers excel--managers and sales consultants, and our finance team rise together.
This is the most merit-based and unbiased work culture I've experienced in more than 40 years on jobs including Air Force officer, college professor, youth minister, and so on.  What you earn is directly under your control--how hard, consistently and intelligently one works determines one's income.
Indeed encourages comment on the hardest and most enjoyable parts of one's job.  I think retail sales hours may be the greatest challenge for some--we earn when we sell; we sell when we're present.  We're off every Sunday, and we work bell to bell every Saturday.  Sales people work when others are on break or holiday.  The most enjoyable part of the job is the joy of serving our customers with great products and services--knowing they'll love me even more after they've driven their new Honda or visited our exceptional service department.
I was middle-aged and mid-career when I arrived at HCL.  I suppose the greatest lesson I've learned and re-learned is that, humanly speaking, I am responsible for my work and its fruit. Honda of Clear Lake has made fulfilling my responsibilities a joy for the past 15 years and counting.

I have to begin by saying this is my personal experience and opinion in regards to this company, others may have different opinions, that being said.

     Management constantly disregards making a quality product by implementing pathetic excuses for counter measures, or focusing on generally harmless employee horseplay or mistakes.

Everything is outsourced when it comes to human resources, a different app or website for everything, making HR more of a help desk in my experience, some of them behave, I feel, as if they are "above" the production employees, either by being degrading or by behaving as if they don't particularly care about what you're saying.

Getting tools fixed or parts replaced, which in my department is required for the process, even down to an airline fitting, is nearly impossible, I've been told they don't stock replacement parts for anything in the plant.  Many employees have voiced their frustration about different problems and nothing ever really improves, we've even been shown tools that we were supposed to receive for use, and then never saw them again.

Favoritism, at least in my department, is unbelievably prominent, there is a very clear us and them mentality, and it doesn't even specifically have anything to do with employee ability.  

There are also just overtly illogical/overly complex systems in place, you have PTO, which is personal time that you can use to request days off, but you can't have that day off if someone else has been approved, but for some reason, the department that is located before ours is also included in that selection, so even if someone that has no bearing on my department being able to run, I still cant have the day.  You also have LOC and EPT, EPT is like a tardy protection, but only covers 90 minutes, and LOC can be used for I'd imagine spans of an hour (I've only ever requested full days), the problem is that they both pull from your PTO bank, which doesn't particularly make sense to me, you also have attendance percentage which affects almost everything, and attendance councilings, which go up to level 3 and then AIP, attendance improvement program, where you get 2 days to miss for the span of 2 years, and must remain above 99% attendance for the entirety of the second year.  But they're also losing people so fast that they don't fire most people that disregard the program.

Also if you're starting anytime soon don't expect anything less than working 9 hours every day, sometimes with a couple hours of down time, they seem to be making no effort to fix problems and love throwing new work onto the associates.  

I'm just genuinely sad that I was so excited to work here, I was warned by a couple people but I didn't think it could be as bad as my last employer, but it's much worse in a different way.


     

I was a valet for over two years and the job was super easy. If you know how drive a car (auto & stick shift) and you dress according to the weather, and mind your business, you'll be fine! The worst part about being valet is checking people's tire pressures because it's time consuming and simple enough where people should know how to do it at home, plus most gas stations have air pumps for that reason. It can get very busy so the more time you have to grab cars, the better. Working in the rain stinks too. Any other weather conditions I can deal with, but something about the rain and having to get in and out of people cars all the time is a little unappealing to me. On top of that, not everybody keeps their car clean. There will be times when someone's car is so dirty and smelly, it will make you almost throw up. But that's rare.  That's everything negative about the job. Being a valet really isn't that bad. Customers can be idiots sometimes and rarely are customers ever mean, but it happens. Most customers who come in are pretty nice and patient. Everybody including management is pretty cool at Honda, as long as you be real with them and treat everybody like a human being. When the weather is nice, we would order pizza and grill burgers and hotdogs on saturdays.  If you're applying for a valet position, you can expect something around $15-$17/hr, which I think is underpaid considering what we do, but it is what it is. Sales and Parts Dept. both get 1hr lunch break and Service Dept. gets 30min lunch break. Its pretty short but if you take a little more time you'll be fine. Hours for Service/Parts are from 7-5:30pm. Sales hours are 8-8pm weekdays/8-6pm weekends. You will most likely have shifts, but you can probably work every single hour until management tells you otherwise. Nobody is too strict with attendance, and if you're going to call out just let your coworkers know, management usually doesn't care as long as there's more than 1 person to carry the workload. On some days valets/receptionists might end up working by themselves not because  Honda is wildly understaffed, but if we had one or two more extra people doing the work it would make the whole place function much better. If you're applying for a Salesperson or Service Advisor position, good luck. The money seems good, but these guys definitely deal with the most stuff and get the most stressed throughout the day. But they make good money. The whole place feels dysfunctional and overwhelming when it gets really busy, but everybody is pretty cool and I got along with everybody like family. Overall, its a decent place to work if you just want to make easy money to get you by for a while. 

I've recently started working here but I enjoy it. Japanese work culture really shows here, but I love it. Orientation and training last about 2 weeks along with the workouts from the wellness directors, but it's so worth it. There's free access to the gym, and you can talk to any of the wellness directors for nutrition or exercise help. They are all wonderful! You are given about 20 work hours to learn each process, you'll learn 4-5 in AF, and you'll rotate each quarter so you won't be stuck doing the same process all day, you'll be told which processes you'll be on each shift. Mass trainers are very helpful, I feel like I have people I can talk to if I'm ever struggling or need some encouragement. A lot of people hate the rotating shifts, but I worked 3rd shift for the past 9 years and I am so grateful to never have to work 3rd shift here. Pay is great. Right now with the part shortage, both lines have non production days, coming to work is optional but it's ridiculously money if you do come. Great benefits, bonuses, and compensation. I worked for other multi billion dollar companies that did not value their entry level employees, we'd maybe get a snack bag once per year. Here, I feel valued. Summer and holiday shutdowns are great. 

If you don't like having a job where you're held accountable to come to work and do a good job, this isn't for you. If you can't bare to be on your feet for 8 hours, this isn't for you. Some departments and zones will be more physically demanding, but I think they keep this in mind when assigning you to a department. You don't get to state a preference on your department but you do for your team.

If you do choose to work here, get some good athletic socks and shoes, you'll be on your feet all day. I also bought steel toed shoes before my first day, and the temp agencies didn't tell me before hand the specific criteria for the department I'd be in, I was told on my first day that I couldn't wear the shoes I bought. But I'll say this, if you're assigned to AF, you need steel toed or composite shoes with no metal eyelets. I wish they told me sooner so I didn't have to take the eyelets out. If there's a shoe you like but you can't have metal eyelets, you can take them out. 

It will be hard at first when you get on production, but remember it gets easier. You will find your pace, you gain that muscle memory. Also keep following the exercise regimen wellness gives, take advantage of the gym, stretch good before your shift, eat a healthy diet, and stay hydrated. 

I would not recommend this position to my worst enemy. Understand that this is the red headed step child of all Honda's! Honestly the only reason that Honda hasn't shut the plant down yet is probably due to the fact that they can use it as a tax write off. The plant hasn't profited a single dollar in the last decade. Just taking a look around at the managers it all makes perfect sense. Management is not strategic in their thinking at all and they expect for you to cover them day in and day out. There is also a huge divide between the American managers and Japanese managers which leads to the huge breakdown in communication and being a cost planning commodity leader  you experience all types of craziness due to this. There is no way you can function properly in this role when your own managers don't even know what is going on. On a day to day basis your will get calls from your suppliers with issues, such as their tool needs to be repaired due to the wear and tare from running your parts and you are responsible for issuing payment to them. Sounds easy right? WRONG! In this position you will be required by your SIX managers to write up an application explaining why payment is needed and why should Honda pay it. You have to take this application down and hunt down EACH manager and sit them down one by one and make sure they are happy before they will sign onto the application. You will be asked pretty ridiculous questions by management that they know you will not be able to answer on purpose. So now you have to babysit something for days that should have been a 5 min process on top of keeping up with your day to day activities. THIS IS JUST THE START!

They lied to me in the interview to get me in the door, telling me my workday would be flexible(IT NEVER WAS), telling me turnover was low (they lost 3 employees out of a group 6 in a 10 month span), and that travel was annually 5-10%(It was so bad to the point where I had to keep an overnight bag in my car every day when I came to work because I wasn't sure if I was going home or to South Carolina). Also note that you do not get paid for any travel nor can you flex your hours! I received a call 7pm on a Wednesday evening saying that I had to go to Chicago the next day. I get to the Airport at 4am and I do not get back home until 11pm and I had to still be at the plant the next morning at 7am.

 Long story short just stay far away from Honda Power EQUIPMENT!

At Garden State Honda, my employment period has been stagnant. Within the Product Specialist position, one must take upon the following responsibilities: Attend to walk in customers, aid in total customer support/technical aspect of every single Honda model and trim level. From this position, I learned patience with clientele, how to manage customer emotion and evaluate a customer scenario, and how to respond in order to ensure customer satisfaction. The hardest part of the job is the lack of dynamism or rather brain drain. Being the most knowledgeable person in the room and not making the same amount of money as a salesman while doing essentially the same job of "selling" the car is not a happy feeling. No commission or bonus for customer retention or satisfaction means no incentive for good work and acknowledgement. At the end of the day, work is work and it'll always get done. Management is not as well run as one would perceive. Throughout my 3 year span, my previous manager would often not be clear on my job title or workload or how to actual run the job, forcing me to really teach myself to cater to the customer in terms of satisfaction. On one occasion, my manager found my co worker slacking, playing a video game while working, so the 3 Product Specialists that we here (including myself) were penalized. Now also part of the job in retaliation for something I did not do, we must also fold BDC (business development center) letters daily upwards of 200+ letters. this drastically reduces productivity in total. Furthermore, I did not receive a pay raise for completing more work as well. The worst thing about my job is the customer attitude when inspecting the car, often customers will be rude for something that wasn't even my fault such as: the car being dirty, scratched, used (even when completely new). Therefore, the majority of customers who find negative traits about the vehicle will take of frustration on me. Also at Garden State Honda, I have trained multiple employees on the basis of car knowledge without proper compensation for training which is increasingly frustrating. Oddly enough, my job is constantly under fire for not being productive enough but my job relies upon salesmen to SELL the car first, also manage 200+ letters and walk in customers all at the same time.

I worked here for 2 and a half years as a receptionist and if certain things would not have transpired, I might have still been there. I'm torn because I really loved, for the most part, my fellow co workers, my best friend is still there. We met through working together. The job in itself wasn't hard. It did get stressful at times dealing with so many customers, but that's normal. People are definitely treated differently here. They have their favorites and based on that can also determine how much further you go and how much you make. I often felt treated unfairly, people in management would lie straight to my face about certain things, even up until the very end, and I knew it because I've kept the screen shots to prove it. I also feel that when you try to leave they try and sabotage you finding something better. Just alot of two faced, backstabbing going on. Go figure, it is the car business. My biggest thing is knowing that people who were there less time than me and were less qualified made more than me, and that never set well. Also, if you have some type of disability, mental or physical, BEWARE. Whenever someone would mention to me about their anxiety, depression, etc.. Don't talk about it with anybody. I kept EVERYONE'S secrets there. I really felt that's when my career ended with Honda. When I had to tell them, they just treated me differently. It's a double edged sword. It was Monday through Friday. Great hours although you could end up working 12 hours if the other receptionist or someone doesn't come in. Could work weekends also if the others called out. The pay was okay, but should have definitely been in line with what others made that were working the exact same position. Some managers just didn't care, but others really did. I appreciated that more than they knew. Sorry if this review is going both ways, but I mean it really was 50/50 for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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