electronic assembler

production worker

machine operator

maintenance technician

tool and die maker

Hydro-Gear

First off let me start by saying i have over 20 years in CNC manufacturing. I've held a position in every aspect of the trade from operator to supervisor and so on.
This place is very clean and has a great benefit package for full time employees.  Average employee tenure is 2 years of 90 people on 2nd shift, very high turnover. Worst training program I've ever experienced! You're rushed through a 6 hour class with several new employees. The next day begin running production, and expected to make goals. I was hired as a cell technician whose basic responsibilities were to aid operators with equipment problems. Instead they put me on production because they were short staffed. Then i was told that in order to be a cell technician i need to take extra classes within the company and earn machine credits. In order to earn credits you are required to work with a trainer at each machine. There is only 1 trainer for each area and they are usually running a machine alone because of the staffing issues. So could i "eventually" become a cell tech?  Yes! But probably a 2 to 5 year process. They may as well have said your going to be the company president! Oh but you'll have to complete 18 years of college while performing back breaking grunt work for the next 15 years. I turned down a very high paying job offer to be an operator but it was 3rd shift and i'm no spring chicken! Operating a machine at a fast pace is better suited for the younger generations who aren't on a diet of pain and nerve medication, plus this place is close to home.

Overall if you would like to get into manufacturing this would be a way to get your foot in the door. I do not recommend this company for anyone with vast experience pay is sub-par at best. In order to deter people from missing work you get a base pay at "x" amount if you work the whole week you get a bonus. Miss a day (1 day) at all and you're in-eligible for a raise for an entire year and you'll lose the extra 1.50 an hour bonus pay for that week. Its also a way for them to screw you out of over time since they calculate it from "base pay". Second shift is from 230 to 1030 and what they don't tell you is you have to show up 45 minutes early or you have to walk a mile (no joke) to get into work limited parking and the building is incredibly long! THEN if you clock out at 1030 you'll lose 15 minutes from your 8 hours and guess what? no bonus pay so an 8 hour day really ends up being more like 9.5 hours. I was duped into thinking i would be placed in an upper level position. Now im stuck in this cesspool of lies until i can find other employment. Your experience and skills mean nothing you are dirt to these people.-rant off

Terrible, terrible, terrible company! Basically, you're going to stand in a small, uncomfortable space by yourself or with one other person and assemble a lawn mower transmission. Eight hours a day. Five and six days a week. I learned that Hydro-Gear doesn't play fairly, they give misleading information to certain groups of employees, the company practices favortism and harassment religiously, the company's Supervisors and Supervisor Assistants know LESS about the assembly line than an employee with ONLY 2 months of experience does, an employee has to practically beg for more advanced training, the space available for parking is EXTREMELY insufficient (which only causes more stress and frustration), the absenteeism point system (occurences) is a pound and a half of bologna, the chance for advancement is slim to none, and the company's idea of a "clean and friendly work environment" is a bleached and sparkling restroom. My Supervisors were terrible. All of them. A majority of the time, they had NO IDEA what they were doing and had to have employees of much lower stature guide them through processes. About 90% of my co-workers were great, easy to work alongside, easy to please, concerned with the safety of everyone else and themselves, dedicated, and respectful. The other 10% of my co-workers, however, were awful. Entirely rude, misleading, judgemental, stressful, lazy, careless, disrespectful, kniving, nosey, unhelpful, unproductive, and too concernced with running off to the restrooms to talk on their cell phones. The job ITSELF was easy, boring, and repetitive. The most enjoyable part of my job was coming home at night. A ten minute break and a twenty minute lunch period are just not enough to make up for the stress and weight you feel applied to your body during your shift.

Hydro-Gear was a fun place to work, I worked in assembly on almost every line in the plant. Productive, fast-paced, laidback, and easy work for decent pay and benefits. The people are generally fun to work with and advancement is fair if you’re full-time and a good worker. However, favoritism isn’t unknown there, like but that’s everywhere and it could be worse. Pay raises are earn-able with time and effort, starting pay was around $12/hr and increased a little with each shift. I worked 3rd shift and it was pretty laidback. You get two 10 min smoke breaks and a 30 min lunch; everybody goes to break at the same time. The benefits are decent and they're pretty fair on who they choose to hire full time. As far as part time goes, they changed temp services since I was there but I’ve heard both good and bad about them. If you work hard and don’t call in sick a lot you can get hired on full time after 90 days if they have a position open, but they’re pretty fair on selecting who they believe has earned it. Busy season there is from December until about May, depending on production. During that, you’ll probably be working 6-7 mandatory days a week. The rest of the year overtime is optional. They don’t usually run on weekends, so you have weekends off the majority of the year.

A typical work day consists of standing on concreate floors in one spot putting on the same part all day every day. Not bad if you like repetition and boredom. The only thing I learned from this company is I will never work for another like it. The management is terrible. Supervisors will harrass you and put you down and give little to no compliments or incouragement on top of that they took away all the perks of working there. They are constently laying-off employees, but there are people who have been working there 10+ years and they barely make $12 an hour. So there is no job security and very little room for advancement. 90 percent of the employees act like immature bratty little teenage kids that are quick to insult and slander you. If you do have problems the HR department will do NOTHING in it's power to help you out. Hydo-Gear is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The hardest part of the job was putting with all of this on a daily basis, and most enjoyable part about the job was knowing that I got to go home at the end day. PLEASE, PLEASE don't work for this company you will regret it as I did. They will take you in chew you up and spit you out because they don't value their employees nor do they value the community of Sullivan, Illinois.

In my current role the environment is fast paced and priorities change on a day to day basis.  This is not a companywide occurrence as my focus is on current product and customer issues.  We adapt daily to meet all customer needs and this is what I enjoy.  All departments work together to solve customer issues and support team projects.  In addition, many opportunities are available for one to self-guide their career and work on what interests them.  Engineers are hands on and involved throughout the entire lifecycle of changes.  Engineers lead projects and become well versed in Project Management.  I have personally developed my Project Management skills due to the projects I had the opportunity to lead.  Hydro-Gear provided the necessary training to help me be successful.  For the most part Hydro-Gear employees are like family and it is a joy to come to work with them.  I have become good friends with many of the people I work with.  At times the work is challenging, but the team effort brings confidence to the table and the end result of always satisfying the customer is extremely rewarding.

While working at Hydro-Gear, I found that the work done at stations was relatively easy compared to what I've experienced in my last work environment. Stations are areas people are assigned to for that portion of the shift, where they will stay until break. The only exception was when a person was assigned multiple stations, or expected to cover more stations than the one they are assigned. I grasped this concept immediately, within my first week I was hopping from station to station performing the necessary work with ease, while some others who had been there for months prior to my arrival were either struggling to keep up, or staying limited to just one station. Granted, some stations are harder than others, I found this to be no problem. A rhythm was very easy to put in place. My only qualms I had with Hydro-Gear was the fact that I couldn't balance my work life and private life, (Inevitably leading to my termination) and that I couldn't advance in my field. I had all the skills necessary to be certified on almost all stations in P-Series, but the assistant supervisor "didn't have time."

Hydro Gear is a good job as far as the work goes. But whatever you learn, will turn out to to be wrong, depending on who you ask. This place is a very high school like, toxic environment. The main bosses, and the office folks, seem fine and okay most of the time. But the line leaders, and co workers are backstabbing and passive aggressive and really make you feel stupid and upset all of the time. Its really not a positive environment. I just want to do my job, and get along with my co workers. some are laid back and just doing their jobs, others are too much of a pain to deal with. It does no matter how hard you work, someone always comes along to try to tear you down. You have no sense of belonging, or support system here. They all have their clique. You're the outsider looking in from day one. But like I said management seems okay most of the time, its all these other wannabe chiefs and people with positions of minor power that throw their weight around, some of them have barely been out of high school long enough to have such positions but nevertheless. You can rest assured you will be be made to feel dumb for not knowing how to do everything in the first few days. Really need mental health days at places like this.

This company moved into our area promoting its self as a family friendly, overtime optional company that had great opportunities for advancement. Oh what a fool I was to believe that. Within the first week of training I was told we would have mandatory overtime on Saturday which immediately goes against what they are telling people to sucker them in. I spent another year with this company working to be certified on every position on their lines for which I only received one raise while people who where not certified on equipment but where buddies with management got promotion after promotion. Then recently in May of 2023 they furloughed roughly half of the evening and night shift and about a third of the day shift without warning and with very little reasoning. This put much more work on the people who remained because as they always said "goals and expectations never change." If you voiced your dissatisfaction with something that was happening within the facility you are met with aggression and retaliation from supervision. I would strongly discourage anyone from seeking employment at this facility.

When you come to the assembly line you will take the line as the other shift leaves from that point on you won't have time to breath unless something breaks or someone else is slower than you, the goals used to be achievable and the quality came first now it's the complete opposite you hardly ever hit the goal of the day, if you don't get along with the supervisors or the people who do get along with the supervisors your days are numbered they will leave you in one area they will lie behind your back to thier friends and the HR department. They will make your life harder than it should be if the people in charge don't like you. Overall the work is alright dealing with drama constantly makes this place feel like a highschool you better know how to make friends and how to deal with excess unnecessary stress. On top of all of this if you do get a job here you will more than likely have to be a grade A fast worker to get hired on full time through the company many have waited more than 1 year to get full time just to get laid off in the summer.

Hydro-Gear changed my life. I started just a little less than a year ago with zero knowledge of a manufacturing environment or machining.  Today I hold 37 certificates through Tooling u and Hydro-Gear in CNC Machining with the help of the Hydro-Gear Team. I've never seen the amount of positive encouragement and mentoring that changed my life literally forever, thanks to the caring, hardworking, skilled, management and team members at Sullivan, Il. I must admit I heard some negative  words from former employees before I experienced the TRUE Hydro-Gear family. Hard work? shure, challenging? of course, rewarding? You betcha. The recipe for the American Dream. I was going to quit the CNC Operator Progression Program 3 different times but thanks to one Supervisor, a couple Cell Leaders, and numerous team members, today I am not a quiter. Now when I hear negativity about this life changing company, I just smile and think to myself "That attitude is Not "Forward Motion through Forward Thinking." I highly recommend Hydro-Gear for Anyone who wants a life changing experience. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Electronic assembler 7 salaries reported	$20.36 per hour
Production worker 4 salaries reported	$18.10 per hour
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$18.70 per hour
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$29.50 per hour
Tool and die maker 1 salary reported	$32.50 per hour

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