Behringer Reviews

Pros

The people I worked with are great people who made it a friendly place to work. The common love of music also made it fun, with jam sessions breaking out from time to time, and the occasional potluck or dart contest helping to take our minds off the negative aspects of the culture for awhile. They do know how to party.

Cons

Anal retentive micromanaging by the CEO and in turn the rest of upper management. While I believe that most employees enjoy the actual work they are doing, there is a repressive atmosphere of fear, wondering who will have 'disappeared' the next time they come in the office. There was a period where it was nearly a daily occurrence. Many people who were suddenly gone had just gotten very public praise for the great job they had done (new web site, CEO praised the person in charge in person during a 'town meeting'...the guy was gone within days), like Uli felt threatened by competence. Many people got let go while traveling overseas...I always told people to make sure they had a round-trip ticket.

The CEO doesn't seem to tolerate anyone who has the ability to think for themselves and challenge his ideas...just wants yes-men around him.

Ridiculous e-mail policies and Sharepoint file naming protocols, with Uli personally monitoring and contacting a manager if anyone in their group misplaced an underline. I described these policies while taking a project management class, and the instructor was shocked, saying he'd never heard of such a thing. For a time we had in-office instant messaging which helped get around the oppressive e-mail rules and get quick answers and resolutions to questions. Of course when the powers that be found out we had it, it was abolished because they were unable to monitor what was said. Certainly can't have an efficient way of communicating if 'they' don't know what you're saying.

In the time I worked there I was rarely busy, and as many functions got shipped overseas had even less to do. Although requested many times, additional work never materialized. However, temps were brought in regularly to help out in one department or another.

Advice to Senior Management

Quit micromanaging, trust that the people you hire are capable of doing the jobs they're hired for. If you don't trust them, it doesn't say much for your skill in choosing people. Communicate with people in an open and honest manner. They're intelligent enough to understand what's going on and what needs to be done. Quit discouraging people from doing the best job they can by firing them the week after they've completed a project successfully...they aren't a threat, they're an asset to the company.

Do away with inane policies with e-mail and other types of communication, bring back the office IM system for more efficient communication within the office, and do away with the key monitoring system to track everyone's comings and goings.

Pros

Very Good Products.

Understand Financially Sound.

High level of passion of many employees who are pleased to have the opportunity to work in an industry that is aligned with their love of music.

Cons

Task driven, micromanaging Management Team driven by beliefs and management style of CEO.

CEO, Uli Behringer, sets the tone with extreme micromanagement; task driven and very impatient; poor establishment of expectations and requirements with minimal directional communication; and conflicting behavior whereby praises an employee publicly and then employee released. Senior Management driven to similar management style (actually in our office their seems to be little respect for the individual with unprofessional behavior - swearing at employees should not be tolerated!)

Very high level of change with zero communication on why and general direction of the company.

Culture of fear. CEO visits then question is who will be gone. Everyone in very high panic.

Very poor HR processes - poor appraisal system whereby many employees have had no performance reviews for years; unfair salary management with nil increases over years whereas company does well financially; no knowledge of how to attain promotions; no career planning; and little communication from senior management or direct manager.

Advice to Senior Management

CEO would be better off to work through management team rather than getting directly involved. The company has invested in increasing the breath and depth of the senior management team over the past year. Take advantage of this and maximize their use.

Attain leadership training for senior management. As senior managers improve their leadership capabilities their subordinate managers will improve and the company culture will improve.

Focus on putting in place a HR infrastructure. Recently I was pleased to see that company is undertaking a employee opinion survey and hopefully this will be the impetus of positive change.

Pros

You will be surrounded by smart talented people who deserve better. at behringer the co workers are great and the workplace policies are not.Beer fridays were cool back before they were cancelled

Cons

Not having a computer on the 1st day you arrive, watching people lose their jobs over nothing, getting micro managed from over seas, sharing hotel room at the trade show,ugly carpet,confusing e mail policy, file access problems,slow internet, no more beer fridays

Advice to Senior Management

Trust people to do their jobs

Pros

Great people. They have managed to hire some amazing people past and present, they are largely the best part of this job. It is a very music oriented culture, every person there loves music and that shows in how the work wants to be done. Many of them arrive driven, ambitious, motivated and work very very hard to push Behringer into the front of the line.

Cons

Email and IM policies are pretty terrible. Its all based around the groups, and we are forced to adhere to this feudal style organization style, groups are kept out of communication from other groups except by way of the managers of said groups. We were not allowed to ever send emails directly to any employee, nor can we have attachments, ever. We were ordered to send emails to our direct manager, he would read them and build a new email which would be sent to another manager, whom would then read that email and send a new one to the originally intended recipient. Needless to say this basically made efficient communication impossible. Furthermore, it added sometimes days to the communication process, when this is supposed to be a day and age of instant communication. Many times emails sent from one party to another were actually secretly monitored by another employee, sent up to the management, and warnings and threats were issued. Not only is the policy completely insane but they have setup a whole department in an effort to keep the workers from breaking it.

The processes for acquiring tools and such were so bad, it was easier just to bring our own. Often it took 4+ months for equipment or software to be purchased, and thats after approval, simply because of the processes in place. The above email policy makes it very easy for an email to be "sat on" for a few days or weeks before it moves to the next step.

At one point the management added a door key system, they told us it was for security and that they weren't keeping track of our time. But a manager at the time accidentally let slip that there was a database of comings and goings and that they reviewed them. Woops! If I recall, it didn't allow you to enter the building, you still needed keys for that, but it was required to exit the building. Thus clearly not a typical card access system, but something used solely to track us.

Advice to Senior Management

Uli. You have an amazing office with amazing people. But you are being far too controlling with it, at least for an american culture. There are two things the Bothell office is it is, and two things it isn't.

It IS a wonderful collective of passionate musicians, and talented people who care about the products and the business. This is a rare thing and should be encouraged, i have never in my days seen so many people in one office that share a common thread like that.

It IS a place where you can get the most amazing and creative work, more so than any of your other offices. We worked hard and fast and got amazing stuff done in amazing time frames, no other part of the company seemed to be doing that. It was supposed to be encouraging, but instead it got smushed.

It ISNT a factory. Please stop sharing factory policies and processes with an american office in the seattle area. Its not consistent with the kind of talent you have, and the type of work they do. It greatly contributes to the nearly 100% turnover rate in that office.

It ISNT full of people who want to rob you and steal everything, try to trust us. When people are treated this way, they feel very disrespected and lose ambition and interest in their job. We just want to work, do work, and do great work. We dont want to worry about anything else.

Pros

You get to work at a company that makes cool products and there's a lot of great, talented people you get to work along side with. Before I started, the job was pitched as a free-spirited, creative and positive workplace with a high level of morale. The employee discounts aren't so bad, either. A little-known benefit is that Behringer provides a free fruit basket to employees every week. Nice!
There are some policies and procedures with good intentions: I understand the "No attachments" policy, that's actually a good one because it's actually considered best practice...the problem is that their document management system is so horribly implemented, and there's so many insane file naming conventions (With no rhyme or reason as to why it exists), it defeats the purpose of what could be a good policy.

Cons

Behringer refuses to treat any employee better than the lowliest of factory workers. No employee is treated with any amount of trust, respect, or potential that they deserve. Be sure you negotiate a salary and benefits package that you'll be happy with FOREVER, because once you start, it's unlikely to change. The management will make every excuse to postpone reviews, deny pay raises, and imply that you should just be thankful to work for Behringer. If you happen to exceed expectations, it goes completely unnoticed (and will not come up in a review)...however if you happen to violate one of the hundreds of sacred policy (No matter how unintentional it may be, and despite all of your good intentions), you will be endlessly reprimanded for it. And because many of the policies are unclear, undocumented, and arcane, it's very easy to step into a policy violation beartrap, and when you're reprimanded, you may not even be told WHICH policy you violated, or given a course to remedy the situation!
Management refers to this as a "Structured work place", which is really just innuendo for "Micromanaged from the top down." I do not believe management is as interested in maximizing their workforce as they are controlling them with an iron fist.
The senior management imposes these policies on all employees, however the same managers who drum these policies into your head are the same ones who ignore them when they feel it's inconvenient to do so.
Inter-departmental communications suffer because of these policies, because employees are forced to endure the inefficiency of the communications policy or circumvent it entirely and hope management doesn't notice.
This causes employee-management tensions because the managers do not see these policies as part of the process, simply because they can cherry-pick which policies they can ignore. The arrogance and blatant disregard for the mental health and life/work balance of non-management employees is a major reason that turnover is so high.

Advice to Senior Management

Leaving a fake "Cool Place" review on here that anyone who KNOWS the truth isn't just the wrong thing to do, it just makes Behringer look tacky.
Begin with abandoning the idea that American workers can be commanded like automatons, you'll garner a better return on the investment of your employees when you promote high morale, team-building, and employee growth. When an employee is prevented from being productive because of some venerable policy, it is not the employee's fault. When your management is wholesale circumventing the same policies that impede your employees from progress, THAT IS A PROBLEM.
Internal communication is a problem in most companies, however Behringer's communication problems are self-inflicted and the language barriers compound matters. Stop micro-managing and start delegating.
Employee tensions are high, your infrastructure is broken beyond repair, and the rift between employees and management continues to widen. It's really difficult to articulate just how wrong some of the decisions made by the top brass are when management is made up entirely of yes-men.
Finally, if there's one big idea that I wish I could implant into the mind of Mr. Behringer Inception-style:
"You are not always right."

Pros

The pay and benefits at Behringer are decent. The co-workers are great. Also, working in the music industry is cool.

Cons

The entire atmosphere is one of heavy-handed control by the CEO. The entire office operates under an umbrella of fear for their jobs at all times. The worst part of my time at Behringer was the constant unethical requests being made of me by the top level of management.

Pros

Been here for about 3 years and it's a really cool place. Always loved to work in the music industry and boy, this company is happening. The people are really nice and the team spirit great. We had some people leaving but I believe this was for the better.
With the new management things become much more stable and the our activities in social media cutting edge. I like the CEO's direction and the company is growing over 50% this year. No joke!

Cons

While I somewhat agree with other posters that there are lots of policies in place I have to say that I understand why. This is such a fast growing company with 3500 employees and multiple locations it would be impossible to coordinate everything without having clear handshakes and rules in place. It's a very organized and structured company but unless you are organized yourself the place might not be for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen more to the employees and have more staff meetings. Hire more people that fit the company spirit. Otherwise, keep rockin':-)

Pros

Great opportunity to take on additional responsibility

Cons

Stressful work environment with no feeling of security

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the employees and treat them as equals rather than expendable

Pros

The employees are a great, talented and dedicated bunch of people. People are helpful and approachable. During breaks people may pick up their guitars and start jamming. The office is easy to get to and there is free parking.

Cons

I am blown away by the rules and processes around obtaining access to information, obtaining proper software to increase productivity and email policies. For example, you are not allowed to send attachments, not even to colleagues. Information sharing will therefor need to be done through roundabout ways. Because of all the rules and regulations getting things done in a time-efficient way is extremely difficult.
This all may have been manageable if it wasn't for the iron fist ruling of the CEO. Never have I observed such a level of micromanagement in a company of this size. Decisions are made seemingly without any solid business sense and at times against advice from people with years of business experience.
Some of the management under the CEO can be volatile and very disrespectful towards their employees.
Talented employees come on board full of creative ideas, only to be beaten down in conforming to unrealistic expectations. The turnover is therefor huge, both for people that quit as they reach the end of their rope, and the amount of people that are 'let go'.

Advice to Senior Management

The people working for you bring talent and experience. Please utilize this! Give them the space and the tools to succeed, and listen to their advice. Productivity and therefore advancement of the company will increase if people can gain access to information quick and have proper software available to them. Trust your employees, and do not limit every bit of information. By making information accessible employees will quickly learn all the pieces and background information they need to succeed in their jobs.
It is time to get with the current times and update communication policies. Here as well, a certain level of trust would be quite helpful and I think beneficial to the operations of the company.
Trust in the managers and trust the expertise and business experience they bring with them, this will help in loosening the grip and the level of micro-management. Really, this company is to big to be managed this way.
Managers could improve by learning people and management skills. The first one is respect. You really will not get the most out of your people by barking at them. The second one is to learn your employees personality styles and recognize their strengths, so you can get the most out of the talented pool of employees you have available.

Pros

Great benefits - as far as I know, all of the employees in the United States receive free health insurance.

Cons

An overly corporate cubicle farm trying to disguise itself as a hip company. Located in an office park, so if you don't like that mentality, stay far, far away. Terrible communication obfuscated by an ineffective e-mail policy that fails when it crosses country borders. Everything is outsourced. Product quality is awful.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the ineffective e-mail policy. Take some pride and increase the price point of the products to increase their quality.