Honda R & D Americas Employee Review

Current Employee – been working at Honda R & D Americas full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good medical benefits, retirement plan and company sponsored race teams. Great company car lease program and car "evaluation" program.
The company is very stable and offers job stability.
Two complete week's off during the year on top of you vacation.

Cons – The company makes you feel so guilty when you have to leave to take care of personal things, that I even went back to work the day after my wife was released from the hospital after having our second child.
Too many bosses, project manager, group leader, technical manager and they all pull you in a different direction, so is difficult to satisfy them all.
Poor training for new hires.
Excessive overtime (60+ hrs/week) due to managements poor manpower planing.
You will never do a good job, and it doesn't matter whether or not it was your fault, it will ALWAYS be your fault.
Absurd last minute requests that if not done on time, on top of everything else, then you did not do your job right.
Very slow at reacting to market changes creates frustration.
HR has nor control over managers, all policies are at manager's discretion.
In Honda, you are expected to exceed expectation, so when you exceed expectation you are just meeting the expectations.

Advice to Senior Management – You need to learn how treat people because people are not replaceable like you think the are. People's health, physical as well as mental, are more important that that 2 hr long meeting at 7:00PM on a Friday when you are suppose to meet your family (Japanese management does not understand this but American management should.)
Is a divorce worth meeting that schedule? You know, associates have divorced due to the insane requirements.
Honda''s global attitude is perceived as arrogant, and it can also be felt in the work environment.
One last thing, Americans went to the moon and back when no one else did, think about that next time you are going to reject American staff ideas.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company