builder

manufacturing engineer

senior manufacturing engineer

senior quality engineer

quality control inspector

Penumbra

I liked the company alot I was really prepared to stay there until I retired they have a very good work structure and do alot of employee appreciation events mostly BBQ on Thanksgiving they gave every single employee a turkey to take home talk thousands of turkey's they really make you feel great to be apart of the're team. Now when you go in to fill a application they do a job fair on Wednesday and they have us sign up through a temp agency called human bees they are all good people but I wasn't thrilled giveaway $2 and some change to them when I didn't find out about the job through them I have a close friend that works that let me know about the're job fairs once a week. But I understood that they are a big çompany why not hire a agency to do the hiring process . In my opinion I would have rather just delt with the company without the middle man that is taking money out of my pocket I would liked that money to have gone to my friend who told me about the job in the first place.  What disappointing me the most I was good at most of the work there it was the second to the last step in the training process that I couldn't figure out it frustrated me and completely threw me off my game and they don't give alot of a time frame I was there for 5 months passed the first  3 steps fast the 4 step I was stuck on don't want to breach the company's security so I won't go into details about there methods but basically your working with stuff you can barely see with a naked eye what I don't understand the company has so many other division why not see that I am struggling and just move me along to the last step let the person complete them weather you pass it or not, look at all scores or the trainers evaluations see what step you explain in and put you in the section you can do well at I seen people in there section for alot of years who knows maybe I would eventually got them all done in time but I was let go at 5 months but who knows maybe that wasn't why I was let go but they don't tell you they just say 'your job assignment at Penumbra has ran out' who knows what that means probably its the wording they use instead of your fired and you go get unemployment FYI I did end up getting BTW anyways I love the company but the hoops the temp agency has you jump thru in order to get hired is what sucked and you'll see is the reason for the crazy turnover rate probably 1 or 2 gets hired out of a group 20 my facts are most likely off but I seen alot of my buddies disappear one after another until I was was with all new faces until I got the axe myself hope this was helpful it was for me lol my little rant . Good luck wish luck to all

I was a supervisor and had a terrible experience with the HR department and false aquations from poor performing employees. When I started, the other supervisor gave me most of his worse performing employees and the manager allowed it. I had requested to split employees based on experience level and years of employment at Penumbra to make it fair.  I enjoyed working with employees who gave good effort and didn't try to game the system. Working at Penumbra certainly opened my eyes to poor culture due to rampant favoritism and nepotism. The company tends to favor certain employees and promotes them to levels even though many are incompetent. The hardest part of my job was dealing with poor-performing employees and an incompetent HR department. Many managers have no backbone and will side with HR even though they know the poor-performing employee is trying to game the system. The most enjoyable part of my job was dealing with technical processes and some great employees who cared about their jobs and recognized a good team leader such as myself. The bottom line is the HR Department favors employees over supervisors, showing them minimal trust.  Managers should show some resolve when addressing employee concerns. There's no obligation to align with HR if you know the claims are unfounded. The fact that an underperforming employee plays the race card and gathers support from friends does not validate their claims.

Penumbra has a lot of potential to be a great place to work. The work itself is usually delicate and rather difficult at first, but you get the hang of it. Good benefits and decent pay, as well as decent PTO. What will really determine how much you enjoy your time here is your boss. If you have a great boss, you'll have a great time. If you have a bad boss, as can often be the case, the little things start to add up, and before you know it you're fantasizing about quitting. Some lines that are objectively more difficult will feel easier because the supervisor running that line is good, while lines that are easy can feel impossible to deal with, again due to the supervisor. Your experience will entirely depend on who your boss is. 

There's a general consensus among longtime workers that the company is getting less human, more strict, meaner even. More and more rules keep getting made, one of the more recent changes being mandatory sign out sheets for the bathrooms. The attendance policy was made much more draconian and strict a couple years back, and many were fired because of it. It's based on a point system, where if you get 12 points, you're fired, no questions asked. A coworker of mine had a medical emergency and was fired right before Christmas one time because she didn't have the sick time to cover her hospital stay, for example, and quickly accrued 12 points. It did not used to be this way. The ceo insists that "(the company) isn't like Amazon" but it sure didn't feel that way when I left.

Overall, I had some amazing coworkers and a few amazing bosses, but the issues listed above definitely factored into my decision to leave.

Give or take you have to get lucky, who you get stuck with for your supervisors can make or break the job. Since moving to graveyard I have been moved 5 different times. Moving and learning one product then another. It’s all good because you’re getting more experience and all. But this part of the company is so disorganized they have no idea what they’re doing. Company benefits are very good, you get yearly reviews and depending on your performance it will determine your raises each year. $2 is the max you can get each year. It’s all good and all unless they move you around like they did to me and you got 5 different supervisors trying to determine my worth after knowing me for only 2 months each time lol. At some point you start to enjoy what you’re doing and the people you work with then bam you get moved again doing something worse. If you start working in building 1301 in alameda goodluck prepare to be micromanaged to the max. At some point supervisors get mad because product isn’t getting put out as fast as they liked so we started to go even faster. 1 month later the problem is that we’re going TOO FAST and manager doesn’t like us waiting for the station before us to finish. Very inconsistent overall and if you are gonna work here the 25% differential for graveyard ain’t worth it.

Even when we're short on the parts to finish a lot it's rush, rush, rush, there isn't a lot of real planing involved. Due to growth they are hiring anyone and there's people that should not be there. Also the use an outside contractor now, Human Bees and their folks, lets say they hit on 2 outta 10. These new-bee's are in the parking lot smoking out before work. It's embarrassing really. It's not fun like it used to be. Managers are for the most part rookies or people who must not have overseen workers before. The strangest things keep happening, workers, HR it's all a lot to swallow sometimes. They've been through more than a few managers in the time i've been there. Its almost a modern day sweatshop and the attendance policy is NUTS. They underpay their employees, it's hard enough to live in CA but you can't pay rent on what they offer.  Its super hard on the eyes, microscope is the main tool.

Assignments are administered to fit your skill-set.  Former Controller with a previous experience recruited me into the company to manage Sales Tax Compliance involving their medical device.
Rolled-up my sleeves and remedied outstanding situations that lingered for some years.  Able to same the company money as I discovered exemptions by State statute.  Felt a great sense of accomplishment when the Company was caught-up with their filings.  But recognition was weak, and I found myself justifying my position as it was essential to maintain the system in place.
Management was a close-nit group of people who knew each other from childhood or a previous employment experience.  Outsiders were managed by perceptions and opinions on a Political scale. 
Met other cycling enthusiasts in the Company as we enjoyed a bike ride during lunch hour.

Good place to work however the workload gets repetitive over time. There are some amazing people who work there and I made a few friends. 

I would recommend others to work here, depending on your situation. The pay is worth its pay, for an easy job that is. If you are an ambitious person don’t waste your time there, it will take a long time for you to climb your way up. They do not raise you until your yearly evaluation (inflation adjusted). Too much competition since the company has more employees now. They are very strict when it comes to your time. You have to be there every day with your time card  being 8hr exactly on the dot. On the walking tour during my new employee orientation, an older employee gave us only one piece of advice.. it was “make sure to be here on time every day and it has to be exactly on time”. I get that every job you have to show up every day on time.. but for this place they emphasize on it way too much. 



It was a great place to work until the upper management became more strict with enforcement. There used to be consideration for the workers till it became more about stockholders, "time wasted" with bathroom breaks & constant back-breaking work. Unfortunately, Penumbra isn't considerate with the production builders, as they are with those with higher standing. the work culture is based on favoritism and the work hard payout is too low. 

penumbra doesn't care much for quality as much as quantity. it's a good job if you don't mind your back hurting, eyes straining, or hand cramping. Also, the occasional unprofessional leads/supervisors who would cuss at you and be downright passive-aggressive.  it's the place to be if you want to be treated as a lowly robot. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The Leadership team is a very strong team that provides clear guidance, goals and objectives. The organizational culture is great, focus on helping each other, mentoring, and work balance as well. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Being prepared for the monthly metrics presentation to senior management.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Cooperative and mentoring environment where lower rank employees have the opportunity to grow. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Since this is a stable company with stable processes, ensuring everything is going the way is supposed to, working with other departments to ensure everything goes well. No stress or problems in most days unless something serious happens.

Pay is extremely low. $17.00 an hour. Benefits are great. There are too many supervisors/leads for the number of people working there. If there are any issues the workers tell on you to the supervisor rather than talking with you. Leads are not very approving of people with an education after high school. Work is fast paced and extremely repetitive almost to the extent of a sweat shop. Production builders tend to be very petty and not very nice. Other areas out of production heave much more agreeable people. If you enjoy doing the same thing a hundred times a day and have no aspirations to become a lead or supervisor then this is the job for you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Builder 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Manufacturing engineer 13 salaries reported	$101,102 per year
Senior manufacturing engineer 13 salaries reported	$123,692 per year
Senior quality engineer 12 salaries reported	$129,958 per year
Quality control inspector 3 salaries reported	$23.33 per hour

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