Canon USA – “OK start as a resume builder, but don't stay longer than three years”

Pros

1) Brand: The Canon brand is an internationally well known brand. If you are coming on board as an account executive then it is fairly easy to sell products to accounts. You also do feel proud to be part of such a high quality product.

2) Stability: It is extremely difficult to find yourself without a job at Canon. The company protects its employees.

Cons

1) Advancement: Advancement at Canon is very inconsistent depending what department you work in. Some groups are run entirely by Japanese managers where advancement takes longer than it does in the American groups due to differences in management culture. Some companies provide "roadmaps" for new employees on career paths. At Canon this is not so, and advancement is often based on tenure or what connections you have. Even after advancement, quality of work and responsibilities are often extremely similar with great areas of overlap. It is not uncommon to have an entry level employee and a manager performing the same duties. Most job roles also fall into the same handful of titles regardless of duties. This results in employees performing vastly different tasks often with the same title.

2) Compensation: Comparing to similar roles at other companies in the area, working at Canon pays 20-40% less than the average. Depending on your entry point into the company, starting wages can be extremely low (in the low 30s) and progressive raises (including those for title changes) are all based in small percentage increments. Hard changes to your wage/salary are exceptions to the rule and require managers with leverage in the political system. Even then HR committees have ultimate say to approve or deny any compensation adjustment.

3) Quality of Work: Most entry-level positions entail daily, repetitive tasks (ie approving claims on a continual basis, releasing warehouse inventory on a daily basis, etc). As you move up in the organization you exchange the monotonous work for "problem-solving" work. However this is often not brainstorming new ideas, but mostly how to circumvent the limitations put in place by arduous policies, confusing business practices, or system limitations. The company does reward initiative projects undertaken by employees each year, however finding spare time to accomplish the project or the support from co-workers makes this a very challenging proposition.

4) Culture: The Canon Inc culture is that all employees should be exposed to different areas of the company and gain a full understanding of the business. While this looks great on paper (and I do support it somewhat), it does not work when you put people in charge of departments that they have no knowledge of. Many Japanese workers from Canon Inc are sent to Canon USA to lead or work in departments they have no prior experience in. The difficulties (internally/externally) are compounded by the language barriers and culture differences. This would be no different than sending an American business analyst to Tokyo to supervise their marketing efforts. While having the opportunity to work with different cultures is both unique and rewarding, it poses immense challenges when having to run an active business at the same time.

5) Work/life balance: While many companies will generally give you some flexibility to work a modified schedule within reasonable limits, or even give the option to work from home, Canon expects you to have you computer ready to go no later than 8:59:59AM and leave not a second sooner than 5pm. This varies by department depending on culture. The American sections tend to be very punctual leaving/arriving exactly on time. The Japanese sections will often be busy late into the night (7,9,11pm). Depending on your group, there may be indirect pressure to work late be it late emails, phone calls or otherwise. Even those leaving on time in the American groups will often find themselves answering emails from home or arriving early in the morning to complete last minute requests from management.