Kohler – “Stay away from this mad house”

When I joined Kohler Co. back in 1986 I initially thought I'd died and gone to heaven...what with the American Club, a decent salary and a good benefits package along with what I perceived to be a great industry reputation. WELL, what I found out after about three years of great success in my new position and after I was promoted to the position of Sales Manager was that Kohler didn't truly give a darn about their employees and considered us to be little more than cattle and expendable cattle at that. I vividly recall a senior manager (national sales director) saying we should look for "soaring eagles" when seeking new sales associates and when one of us said we can't afford eagles on our pay levels, he responded by saying "then look for eagles with less feathers". I also found out that the Kohler customer base really holds the company in disdain but can't afford to buy elsewhere due to a superior brand position but tries to buy AWAY from Kohler every chance they get. Well, I left Kohler after eight years (that was seventeen years ago) and have never been happier. What they say about Kohler being "a great place to say you USED to work there" and "the best thing about having worked for Kohler is to say the words USED TO". Enough said.