Bose Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

A great environment, with great people, making great products.

Cons

It is difficult to get into the company, most people hired are friends or relatives of higher ups.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more entry level candidates instead of older, closer to retirement candidates that will not be able to provide the same excitement, and ethic, of a younger candidate.

Pros

The work is interesting and the people friendly

Cons

No advancement
micro-management, at least in my dept.
salary stagnation
No clear way to get to the next level

Advice to Senior Management

Do away with all of the company acronyms
5S
True North
A3s
etc

Pros

recognizable brand, good to have in your resume;
good balance between work and life;
good place to wait for retirement

Cons

no professional advancement;
balance of creativity and process is shifted to process completely;
middle management is not effective;
endless meetings;
long time for decision making

Pros

Decent work environment.
Employees very good people - good to work with.
They do have learning opportunities, but you have to be pro-active in signing up.

Cons

Has become like most other large companies - focused on bottom line.
Used to be about creativity, teamwork and doing anything to please the customer.
Now it is about process, cutting costs, and pushing more product.
Professional advancement is almost non-existent. Any critical jobs seem to get filled from the outside.
My manager does not provide any support. Too busy looking up the organization rather than around the department to really see what's going on. Out of touch.

Advice to Senior Management

Another person had said that middle management does not practice the values that upper management does. My recommendation would be to measure your middle managers on the companies essence and values. If you want the company to be great, then you have to treat your employess like they are great.

Pros

Great rep, great resume booster

Cons

Waste of my years... Too much red tape and politics driving

Advice to Senior Management

Change it .. Get rid of the vp

Pros

Very nice people.
Employees genuinely care about customers and products.
Great brand and great products!

Cons

That niceness can be somewhat false. Like any large corporation, it's got it's share of politics.
Bose has its own way of doing things, and that can be somewhat cult-like.
Conservative to a fault.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay less attention to the latest 'management' processes being advocated by MBA classes, focus on your people and let them innovate.

Pros

Great flexibility of time and excellent work-life balance. A fabulous place to work if you value your family life.

Cons

Promotions and growth within the company are limited.

Pros

Dr. Bose is a visionary in building brand based on great products. Great product that makes me proud when people mentioning Bose, wow...Another part of vision of Dr. Bose was that hiring talented people, make working environment more friendly to new ideas and risk taking for excellence, but all that are changing...

Cons

The culture has changed, some for better, some for worse. It is more processed focused, only that the balance of creativity and process seems not there yet, no risk taking for excellence anymore; Product offerings are narrowly focused, thus not many growth opportunities; career advancement is really in question, depends on who you are connected for the most part, seems believe that external is better than internal talents; politics are big, playing accounting tricks in some areas ; very poor human skills of some lower and middle managers, mostly hired recent 3-5 years, kissed up and kicked down, lowered moral...

Advice to Senior Management

really need to work on lower and middle managers' management skill, probably also on improving senior managers' leadership capability.

Pros

They really take their core principles - Excellence, Passion, Respect, Integrity, Customer Focus, Innovation - seriously and try to incorporate them into everything they do. A culture that tries as best as it can to ensure each individual is able to reach their fullest potential.

Cons

It can takes a long time to make decisions and get things started. Culture of collaboration and consensus can lead to inactivity and long delays.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what your doing. Though not without its flaws you've created an environment that is truly distinct and very supportive.

Pros

Not the typical "stuffy" corporate atmosphere
Friendly, welcoming employees
In house hiring/friend/family referrals
AWESOME company discounts-up to 50% on some items
Above average salary
Excellent work-family balance
Fun, relaxed atmosphere (except at the Corporate Building)

Cons

Bose is an awesome place to work--and they know it. For anything other than an engineering position, they probably wont hire you unless theyve had a chance to "try you out--" prepare to be a contractor for a long time. Even then there are no guarantees youll get hired.

I was a contractor filling in for a woman that had left the company abruptly. They kept me in her position for a year, then the company finally posted the position for official hire for a permanent person. Even though I was told I was doing a great job, they told me I'd actually have to interview for it (yes, for the job that I had been doing for a YEAR--already knew the job, everyone in my dept and had a great relationship w/ management and staff) Even though all my colleagues wrote glowing letters of recommendation AND made phone calls on my behalf, they STILL gave the job to someone else-an outsider at that! When I asked the hiring manager why??? she told me she felt the person she hired would stay longer in the position in the long run because this was more in line with her "career path." Turns out that girl left after a year. Unbelievable. All that work for nothing.

Advice to Senior Management

Maximum 6 months waiting period (with good performance) for contractors before getting hired. Some people I know had been contracting for 4+ years! Seal the deal already Bose, dont take advantage of people. Unacceptable.