maintenance technician

regional sales manager

district sales manager

senior field service engineer

assembler

Hunter Douglas

When I first started at Hunter Douglas I was fresh out of college and had a business first attitude when it came to how a business should be ran. After my time at Hunter Douglas I have changed my approach to an employee first approach.

Hunter Douglas Northeast is a cesspool with very few redeeming qualities. I was hired on as an Engineering/Continuous Improvement Intern. At first I thought this position was a great opportunity to hone my skills and make a difference. I was sadly mistaken. At first, I felt like I was a part of something greater but sadly the deeper I dug the sadder uglier truth began to rear its ugly head. My position was simply the means to complete my boss's busy work on items that had already been documented and collected. 

Through this job I have found out that I am not the only one that has received the short end of the stick. I can not stress enough, if this is your last resort take a position with Hunter Douglas. There is no leadership within that building. As a professor once said "a bunch of managers and no leaders." Higher managers & department managers are so hands off and unattached to the process it makes you wonder. The department managers continuously get rewarded with meals and bonuses that are not shared with other employees. 

The entire plant has multiple signs and posters up bragging about quality and how people-oriented they are but that is simply for the people they bring in for plant tours or slimy dealers.
The business itself is holds itself to no quality standards or accredited organizations. There is a lot of politics that are in play in the business so if you don't like it then I'd find somewhere else. The managers are as transparent as a brick wall when it comes to any information. Also don't be surprised to have your time held hostage by the corporation. I have seen multiple departments being forced to work five or six days a week (10 hour shifts) and be warned about it the Wednesday the week of. Most of the reasons for this is constant quality issues that come from a numbers based environment. 

If you like an environment where you are treated like a kid this is it. You are watched, disrespected, talked down. It is truly an awful work environment. Also don't get comfortable with any of your work. They will constantly have you move around or do jobs that are not apart of your job description. They will also make changes to your department and expect the same or greater numbers to the department immediately. Don't get too old, have a disability, or do anything else that will make you a target. If they can get rid of you they will. They do not care about you only the work you can perform about them. In all honesty the workers need to unionize to protect themselves by a greedy money hungry management group. To conclude, this is truly one of the worst places you could work at period. Unless major change from a leader comes immediately the plant will continue to loose quality talent, bleed money, & eventually shut its doors.

When I started, Hunter Douglas was a perfect place to work.  The benefits offered were unprecedented.  Not only did they offer Health Insurance, but also offered Vision, Dental, Matching 401k, Extra Salary benefits, Attendance incentives, and Business discounts to name a few.  Because of these I hit the ground running and did everything I could to make myself indispensable to the company, by learning everything I could and going above and beyond what was expected of me.  After a short period of six months I was able to work anywhere in my department and was doing twice sometime three times the work of my superiors.  However it still took two years before I was promoted.  I should have realized sooner that this was symptomatically larger issue.  As the years went by, I watched as the company continued to make shady business decisions that did nothing but hurt their employees.   Benefits they offered began to disappear.  Their 6 cent yearly raises were a joke and a slap in the face.  After 3 years there, they decided to revamp their employee salaries because they were losing people to competing businesses causing a turnover rate of 60-70%.  They only raised beginner salaries making everyone equal, proving that years of service meant nothing.  They found shady ways of screwing people out of money like changing shift differentials for new employees but just adjusting base salaries so current employees received no increase.  They would push unreasonable quotas causing unwarranted layoffs and department closings.  Management would demand hours of overtime one week just to be laid off the next.  I've seen whole departments close while others who were working at 120% efficiency were told it wasn't good enough.  They literally have a sign in the main employee entrance that says their employees are not good enough.  I would complain about the Health insurance being 3 times as expensive now but that's more of larger economic issue.  I've seen hundreds of good employees, including managers, pushed out because of poor business decisions.  My hope is that upper management gets a clue before they lose hundreds more.  This company has so much potential but unfortunately seems to be wasting it.

At first it seemed like a decent place to work but after spending some time there I got to witness the incompetence and ignorance of management there especially in the molding department. The molding manager isn’t competent enough to manage a broom closet, let alone an injection molding facility. Not to mention he clearly plays favorites with the young, attractive women who he hires, it’s honestly disturbing and sick. Also, if you expect to be paid properly don’t expect that here, they will find a way to screw you out of your correct wage I’ve seen it happen many times and HR does nothing, it’s honestly unethical and illegal. 

Here is a piece of advice for the senior management and CEO/CFO as well as HR, just because a manager is able to make the numbers look good, doesn’t mean they are a good fit. Part of being a manager is managing PEOPLE, and it’s important to have someone who is respected and also gives respect. The other thing is HR at this company is practically useless, they are supposed to be there to help protect the employees from the company but it was crystal clear their only intention was to protect the company at all costs from its employees. That said, there are some really good people that work there but a handful of bad apples in positions of power make it a miserable place to work and I would not recommend anyone waste their time here. All the catered food and employee appreciation picnic should be scrapped and just pay your employees a little better. We don’t want a meal we want money. Save the song and dance. This would be a decent place to work if they hired managers with an IQ above 70, and if they had a union for laborers, and if HR would actually stand up for the hourly employees.  Also, I noticed how they hire foreign refugees as temps and take advantage of them, very classy place…

I had work there for a about 6 months and got laid off for a reason that I NEVER knew why because they had never told me what the issue was,the temp agency had to call me and said they had ended my assignment.I was confused and surprised of how that came to be .I worked very hard and smart at my department that I was able to had lead it before I got laid off,and I also had very great feedbacks from my dept floor manager, Supervisor,Team lead, and PA.Not to mention,the Vertical Dept was I believe the most physical demanding dept. in the whole Whse.I felt like the PAY was VERY LOW for the value of the work we put in,and I also believe that other of my material Handlers working with me there agreed to this as well..However,despite of my hard works,it felt like it never meant anything to my WHSE Manager.He expected too much for too little and I could tell that He was NOT FIT to manage the WHSE. He had the knowledge of it,but did NOT know how to utilize it accordingly to its work environment.I felt like he was very insensitive of how us material Handlers feel and do not know what the work value we contribute  everyday to the Company.It seemed as if He was the Coach that demands the plays but has no clue of what is in the players mind on the field..Despite its lack of management and very low raises,I Love the TEAMWORK and the brotherhood bond our Material Handlers had with one another. They were very AWESOME and FUN to work with,it made the heavy burden on the job felt light for us to bare.Overall,despite of its downfalls,I gained good experience there in terms of driving and maneuvering different types of forklifts.

Absolutely the worst place to work. I'm not sure where to even start. Management is awful  if you are a good worker, you are pushed to your maximum limit.while other employees are literally sitting on there table, playing on their phone or completely walking away from their station to hang out with other workers. When I told managers I was burnt out and could really use help from those doing nothing I got the response "that's what we do work the good workers to make up for the bad ones" I have offten seen my manager in particular shopping on amazon while complaining we dont hit our numbers. Working 40 hours would be great however what they dont tell you is overtime is mandatory. You work monday- friday 10 hours then Saturday 8 hours. Meaning you get one day off to recover from the stress and workload that place brings. There are also massive amounts of substance abuse from employees and managers but to make things better about every 5 or 6 Saturdays you get free pizza. The managers lack manners, responsibilities, and basic human decency. The employees lack work ethic. The pay is okay but no room for advancement. Most other factory's in the area offer a .50 raise every 6 months while another pays $24 an hour after 2 years. Another factory in the are offers a .50 raise every 6 months and a $1 raise every 6 months after your first year. My honest advice find another career before this place drain you emotionally, physically, and mentally.

I was a hired as a temp. employee, and not even 2-months later, I was let go. The reasoning that they "gave" was that I was asking money from my fellow co-workers to start up a non-profit, and that I lied and deceived my peers that I had a stepfather who works within the company, and one of whom held a high-end position within said organization.

For one thing, why would I ask for money from a company in which I'm trying to prove myself at and make a positive impression, and to start a non-profit nonetheless? Are you kidding me? 

Secondly, I don't even have a stepfather, so I have no idea why this or how this even came about. Complete BS drama if you ask me. Something bigger is going on here, and some people have been within the same department for 10-years if not more, and they're still there; lack of advancement? 

STAY AWAY from this organization, unless you want to be stabbed in the back and defamed for apparently no reason. I got along with everyone there, or so I thought. Fake people, lackadaisical management and dramatic high school atmosphere. 

A few of my peers were pretty cool and fun both to chat with and learn from, but the majority of the people there had had so many personal problems going on, that it bled into their work lives, i.e. single motherhood issues and them being overly dramatic during innocent smalltalk and general conversation.

Look elsewhere!!

I worked here for about 10 months. Over the course of that time I still had not learned hardly anyone's name. Co-workers weren't unfriendly but everyone was there to do their job and go home. Everyone complained about the same problems that never got fixed: Not enough breaktime, management kind of looks down on you and will not take anyone's ideas or suggestions because we were hourly workers, the maintenance guys are rude (I was cussed out by one of them when I had said they did one little thing wrong, being very polite.) People with seniority  goof off and don't do nearly as much work as other employees and they happen to also be management's favorites. I had actually seen someone sleeping on one of our production tables while we were supposed to be working. I was also told that the job i was doing was a 1 and a half person job because there were so many extra tasks. I had help for a little while and they took my co-worker away and pretty much said "Deal with the extra work). You get maybe a day of training if you're lucky then get to hear "You did this wrong" for months because of lack of training and caring in general. We had just gotten a 2nd shift for our department and it literally seemed like they kept setting us up to fail when we came in every morning (Doing 3/20 jobs in the department and got us super behind on everything else). It got to the point where I wasn't happy with the job and wanted to walk out almost every day. There was too much stress working here in my opinion.

Work is pretty standard for manufacturing. At the beginning of the day and after lunch there is time for a shop meeting and ergonomic stretching.

I was given constant opportunity to cross train within the shop and learn numerous skills of the manufacturing process. As well as getting to attend a number of manufacturing trainings.

Management is wiling to listen to most ideas for improvement, and consider the most plausible options. They do a decent job of relaying information back to employees.

Workplace culture could use some work. There doesn't seem to be a huge initiative to work with employees who don't care about things like good housekeeping or area/process improvements and sustaining them. Most of that gets loaded onto the few employees who are willing to do it. Music is not allowed, which could vastly improve the mood and motivation of employees.

The hardest part of the job is the long term monotony. When opportunities to advance and move around happen, it's not much of an issue, but staying more than a year or two in a single position leads to a lack of focus and difficulty staying motivated.

The most enjoyable part of the job is when the whole shop is in sync, and running smoothly. You're never too overwhelmed with work, and you never run out. When you have a good rhythm in the shop you can just keep working and time goes by quicker.

At first the company seemed like the best company you could hope for but quickly you find that the culture is focused on only taking care of the tightly woven "click" that has been groomed for management.  Most of the managers are family friends and do not have degreed educations.  If you are hired from outside this company be careful to who you trust.  If you are part of the group they feel fit their high school environment you will thrive but if you do not fit into this social atmosphere they will find a way to replace you.  Work hours are extreme and the work load is not shared between management levels evenly.  Some of the management team really seem to have nothing to do but gossip and tell stories while others manage three times the amount of employees that typically should be handled by one manager.  I even witnessed one Supervisor spend hours on his PC watching video games being played or the most relevant ball game and then leave early day after day to only be promoted.  In certain areas of the company you don't have any support because of HR and the managers friendships are so tightly woven and unprofessional you are left feeling unsupported with no clear direction until you are being held responsible for the entire teams poor performance.  This is not a collaborative environment and outside ideas are not welcomed.

If you start in production as a temp, then your pay begins at minimum wage.  Once your permanent, you'll get a 50 cent increase. Once a year, raises are 2% to 3% depending on performance and your wage.  Shift leads make $1 to $2 more than regular employees, therefore they should expect a lower percentage increase. Basically if you're a good employee who makes $10.50/hr, then you will get a 3% raise, but if you're a shift lead making $12.50/hr, then maybe you will get a 2.5% raise. This way all the good low-level employees will receive roughly the same 30 cent raise. Wages pretty much always stay just above minimum wage no matter how long you work there. I don't know how much Supervisors make, but the cars they drive look a little junky.  

It's difficult to get fired from this job.  Bosses expect quality over quantity, so they don't expect you to reach your quota every day. As long as you honestly try to reach your quota and make few mistakes, then you'll keep your job.

Production employees should work their way into management if they want to advance.  Otherwise, they will need to get some education for any of the other positions.  Maintenance guys typically have a 2-year degree.  Tech guys have at least an associates. Programmers typically have a B. S.  

If your uneducated, then the pay at this job is going to hurt you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$28.00 per hour
Regional sales manager 17 salaries reported	$79,147 per year
District sales manager 1 salary reported	$75,000 per year
Senior field service engineer 20 salaries reported	$115,000 per year
Assembler 4 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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