Danaher Reviews

Pros

Accountability, responsibility and interface with multiple departments

Cons

heavy workload, too much fixups, out of dated equipments

Advice to Senior Management

some middle management lack of working knowledge

Pros

challenging at work, enjoyed.
Lots opportunity to be involved in different tasks.

Cons

high pressure, management team change

Advice to Senior Management

management move too frequently sometimes.

Pros

Exposure to complex financial transactions and work across various disciplines, although this is more of a requirement than an opportunity.

Cons

Senior management is completely oblivious to the day to day functioning of the departments. There is very little exchange of ideas up the management chain. There is absolutely no work-life balance. Management has either no time or desire to help advance the careers of the staff. It's like prison without the meals.

Pros

The benefits were good, but could NEVER out way the stress level. Fellow employees are good, made some great lasting friendship.

Cons

The company does not respect employees who have spent their life building the company up to where it was. Hard work, dedication and experience is not rewarded. Chances for advancement are very slim without a masters degree. Very stagnant to improve oneself. With the economy the way it is today and jobs hard to come by employees are stuck and will have to take the unfairness until the economy changes. Then they will lose the employees that are working there for a paycheck and not because of loyalty to company. They seem to by interested in hiring temps to fill al the full-time positins they have let go. Guess it saves them money and they don't have to pay benifits.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn out to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Start listening to employees concerns with out retaliations and hiding behind your New York attorney.

Pros

Stock out performs most all other companies in sector, best example of lean Mfg outside or Toyota (I actually think we do it better since we are not making simple cars!)

Cons

Step up to the plate, be able to embrace constant change and recreating standard work, people looking for a "comfortable, lay low" job dont belong here. Strong culture, on the bus, or get off.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work, I think we are getting too heavy into medical since 2006 though, lets diversify.

Pros

Decreased management to leaner levels. Pay and benefits remained the same for the first 6 months.

Cons

Upon taking over a very large multinational medical instrument company cut out all travel for some departments and attendance to national meetings. Removed copiers, stopped replacing ceiling lights. Forbid upgrading computers, took back cell phones and other communication devices. increased costs to field support persons for car, cell phones. Over worked field support. Many resignations. Senior persons taking jobs with competitors or taking lay off package.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up or abandon ship. This is only the tip of the iceberg ahead.

Pros

The best reason I can think of after months of reflection is that it looks favorable on a resume.

Cons

The management team drives by fear for ones job. There is little teamwork as everyone is fearful of the gentle nudge in front of the bus. Regardless of how the company has performed, there will be layoffs each year. I knew I was in trouble when on my second day of work, the admin assistant "joked" with me about her surprise to see me show up. The stress level is high and only ratchets up and the expectation of your time ( ie. your commitment to the company) is brutal if you have a family - even away from the office you were expected to respond to your blackberry. If you didn't come from a few select MBA programs, you likely were not considered upwardly mobile or a hi-pot.

Advice to Senior Management

There really is none because the culture is too engrained for there to be any expectation that advice would be listened to. I am sure there are sympathetic managers but they are too busy positioning themselves to worry about those who they rely on.

Pros

Name recognition and decent health benefits

Cons

The support staff has been treated like slaves. Despite meeting targets, ChemTreat refused to give the average employee a raise. Desention amongst the lower managers and their staff runs high. People are in positions of higher management without the necessary education that most companies typically require. The company was once a proud employee owned place of business that attracted the top talent in the field of water treatment. Why anyone would choose ChemTreat for their career is beyond me (except for the need for a paycheck).

Advice to Senior Management

Get back to the basics. Remember what made ChemTreat great. Give the salesman the power to make business decisions for their territories. You are paying people of real profitability. Stop making up your own profit numbers and looking for ways to cut bonuses.

Pros

peers are cream of the crop. however, be ready to run a marathon. hard work and high expectations

Cons

it can be an intense place - not for everyone

Advice to Senior Management

stay grounded. remember to recognize when people are doing a good job. say THANK YOU

Pros

Can offer above-market comp for managers, if negotiated skillfully and you're bringing in clients and/or technical experts.

Valuable tip: forget targeting long-term comp that vests over multi-year period. Go for max comp in the short-term, even if leaving sizable amount of long-term money on the table - you won't want to stick around to cash in. Had I done this I would have planned to leave even sooner.

Cons

The abrasive term in the headline is almost never referred to an employer out of respect for those who've truly suffered, but I've heard it used so many times on Danaher from employees throughout that it became a default way to describe the company.

The reviewer from 10/12/2011 hit the nail on the head. Managers make false promises of hope to employees and rules with fear. As managers we're trained to exaggerate these elements to milk every last ounce of energy from employees without paying for it. Title "raises" are common way to evade pay rewards. When managers have an issue with a direct report, even if trivial, they'll likely go on a witch hunt and build their case against that employee (e.g. 15min late twice becomes "perpetual tardiness" and unable to finish an arduous assignment given only a day prior becomes "unwilling and unable to perform essential responsibilities") so that HR can take over and apply the coup de grace. Mind you, this applies to managers as well, so your living motto becomes "to kill or be killed."

These are some elements that really turned my stomach, and made me rethink who I want to be in an environment where I am required to spend most of my waking hours. I have come to the realization that this isn't normal or temporary, and that it's something that I'll eventually look back on with profound regret. The reviews here have inspired me to come forward, as their examples are striking in their accuracy and resonance, considering how many Danaher companies there are throughout the world.