HNI Reviews

I have been working at HNI full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – 1. Exposure to a lot of different manufacturing processes - wood, laminate, steel, fiberglass, plastic etc
2. Get trained on structured design and development processes with good standard operating procedures (The documents and spreadsheets are there to follow, even if implementation is not always executed as per the prescribed process).
3. Large engineering groups to fall back on.
4. Big company, not too shabby resources for employees to really take charge and self-learn on things like lean manufacturing, Design for Manufacturability, Product Management etc.
5. Different brands, different price points. Can switch between different HNI OpCo's for quick exposure.

Cons – 1. Too much hierarchy.
2. Meet a lot of people who treat their positions as jobs, not careers.
3. Lot of incompetent people hired to top positions.
4. Company gives more relevance to communication skills and not level of education etc (For instance, they will consider an internal candidate who has a Bachelor's in General Studies for an Engineering or Product Management position, over a candidate who has a Bachelor's and Master's in Mechanical Engineering, more diversified experience for the same positions).
5. Very low starting salaries. Profit sharing is a joke.

Advice to freshers: Get a job here, work your behind off, learn all you can and leave. Do not plan on staying more than 2-3 yrs or you WILL get pigeonholed in your career.

Advice to Senior Management – Work on better ways to retain your engineering talent.

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

I have been working at HNI full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good benefits, lots of room for growth, beautiful office buildings, work can be interesting, good relationships with coworkers, ability to work with fellow professionals, can get exposure to international business and other sophisticated experiences.

Cons – The company is located in Muscatine, IA, where there is not much to do. The company does not respect a work-life balance and asks for a lot of hours out of its employees. The company is very short-term profit motivated.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at HNI full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – I've been here for 14 years and it's close to home

Cons – They are out sourcing their software development. I'm a software developer.

Advice to Senior Management – Care about your employees more.

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

I worked at HNI

Pros – The health benefits were very generous for families, not single young adults. After qualifying (2 years) for Cash Profit Sharing the company makes a generous match into members 401(k) accounts.

Cons – If you are starting your career with the company, do not expect guidance from management of what is expected of you, they assume you already know. There is a lack of support and communication between executives and mid-management and staff.

Advice to Senior Management – Stick to the basics on how HNI became successful. Give members in the company greater guidance along with transparency to how well the company truly is doing.

I worked at HNI

Pros – While working in the IT Department I had great gratification that I was able to help other people with their everyday problems. The production personal and office personal were great to work with.

Cons – Very stressful at times but that was all part of the job. I believe some people were probably paid more then they were worth, based on job performance.

Advice to Senior Management – I have no complaints what so ever about my boss or supervisor. They were both great to work with and very good at listening and giving tips/advice on the job.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at HNI

Pros – Great people to work with
good company direction and management
the laid back managers work on the floor for personal assistance

Cons – Fast paced, stressful at times
I got trained in many areas over a short period of time, then had high expectations
monotonous work over time
long days, early hours

Advice to Senior Management – I suggest training the employees slower, until mastery of a certain area, then continue to broaden as time goes on

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at HNI

Pros – Good Company, Good Vision and mission

Cons – Too focussed on Lean without worrying about customer requirements

Advice to Senior Management – Develop business model to meet customer requirements

I worked at HNI

Pros – Mid-size company made working there feel like working with close friends and family, allowing us to develop very good relationships with colleagues and peers.

Cons – Furniture industry is very volatile in the fact that it will be the first to feel the the downsides of a bad economy, and the first thing management will do is to arbitrarily cut head-count from all departments, regardless if you have been a good performer or not.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a salary cut from $250,000 to $75000 before you start letting lower level people go.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at HNI

Pros – It is a very large stable company. They have health beifits, profitsharing. And there are still a lot of great people who work there.

Cons – Currently poorly managed, with respect to human recources. They just don't care much, if any, about the people that work for them. HON used to be more about being a good place to work, and employees were treated as, what they called "Members" Now the term "Members" is more like a slap in the face. Because being a member of somthing would indicate that you were part of somthing that you felt you belong to, and possible might have an influence in helping the cause of the company. Now people are treated as if it was their fault the company might be experiencing financial difficulty because of the economy.

Advice to Senior Management – Most people understand that the economy is bad, and that we need to cut corners and raise productivity, but that is no excuse to treat people with no respect. Let us help. Acknowlege the fact that that "you" the management don't have all the answers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at HNI

Pros – Good company to work for

Cons – Lots of constant changes happening