Pros

Good work life balance. Management in general does value the employees. Decent commitment to research and development with a fair amount of reinvestment into new product development. Compensation is average to good for the Twin Cities. The company invests in employee development with a minimum of 40 hours of training required for every employee each year. Senior management seems approachable and relatively down to earth. Less politics than I have seen at other places I have worked. The company places a high level of importance on community service and even pays for 2 and a half days for each employee to donate time at a charitable organization of their choosing.

Cons

Not nearly enough turnover at this company. There are employees with 20 plus years in mid level roles which makes career progression a challenge except for a chosen few. In general people are not held individually responsible for their actions or inactions, they just get a mediocre review and everyone moves on. There is far too much of a "that's not the way we do things around here" mentality. We don't take the competition seriously enough, instead relying on our legacy brand value to keep us as a market leader. In general there is no entreprenureal spirit in this company.

Advice to Senior Management

It was obvious a long time ago that the industry was in trouble but we continued to spend money like it was the good old days. Now we had to lay off 10 percent of the company and who knows when the next round is going to occur.