Hain Celestial Reviews

Pros

HAIN is a fast growing company with a many diverse and interesting divisions.

Cons

Limited ability to outperform and advance once bogged down in a particular division. A lot of turnover.

Advice to Senior Management

Look within for talent.

Pros

Manufacture and distribution some wonderful products that are good for you and the environment.

Cons

Disjointed communication between corporate and operating companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase communication and transparency.

Pros

Forced to think creatively to save time. Learn a lot in short period of time. Learn to multi-task at lightening speeds.

Cons

Long hours spent meeting short dead lines for much less than comparable wages else where. 401 K fund choices an employer contributions below average.

Advice to Senior Management

When you include a question in an appraisal self assessment make sure that you discuss the employee's response during his/her review.

Pros

Nearly impossible to think of anything; overall a horrible, depressing, soul-crushing place to work. Only pro is free coffee, which is needed in order to work endless hours!

Cons

Long hours, zero recognition, incompetent or horrible managers employees rewarded, poor salaries and benefits, arrogant rock-star-wanna-be CEO, you only count at this company if you are a friend of the CEO; otherwise you are worked like a dog then spit on. Senior team is concerned with one thing: delivering ridiculous (and fudged) numbers to Wall St. So little employee appreciation or any sort of recognition that it is laughable. Managers are very light on praise but very willing to criticize, and not constructively. Employee complaints about abusive managers are ignored. Business/financial practices very questionable. Can't keep talent because of the back-stabbing, horrible, bitchy atmosphere. Warning to anyone considering working here...don't! Hold out for something else; this company sucks and has a long reputation of being a miserable, crap place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

Um, seriously, a lame holiday party thrown for the first time in 4 years coincidentally because your publicist landed you an interview with the NY Times about how you inspire your employees and foster camaraderie?? For real?? Pathetic!! And why does a CEO need a publicist anyway? If you paid more attention to how miserable your employees are and what a crappy place your company is to work, AND you actually cared enough to do something to improve things, you wouldn't have to PAY someone to make you look like a competent leader!

Pros

Gain a full perspectives on how to handle operations
Get to wear many hats

Cons

Unprofessional environment
Too small
Focus on career development

Advice to Senior Management

Support Career development

Pros

Good place to land for the short term - fair rewards financially

Cons

Intense and pressure filled management approach

Advice to Senior Management

Lighten up

Pros

Depending on the location- the peer groups are excellent to work with.
The Boulder Celestial Seasonings office is a great example and much envied at our office.
I would work for anyone in Boulder- because their leadership seems strong.
Other locations are not as fortunate.

Cons

Very little concern for line staff and middle managment.
overworked, overwhelmed and underpaid employees.
very basic business decisions (staffing, pricing, contracts, ect) can take months if not years to get through the red tape.
not willing to invest in an infastructure to support their rapd growth plan.

Advice to Senior Management

Please invest in the technical side of your company. Working on a dos based system at your level of business is ridiculous.
Someone should ponder why business that are thriving when you buy them- quickly disintergrate under Hain's management.
There should be some back to basic managerial training. There should be some SOP's established to allow people to get what they need from the upper managment folks.

Pros

Growth industry, smallish company culture

Cons

Family and certain religion gets first cut at sr positions

Advice to Senior Management

Look at other religions when deciding on sr management

Pros

Generally good atmosphere. Some salaries are OK. Not many layers of management to deal with. Generally friendly atmosphere. OK about personal and health issues. You can talk to upper management if you push the issue. Again, small company atmosphere can be positive.

Cons

Static jobs no movement, not large company. Some of the decisions are erratic. Old systems, not willing to move forward. This was an issue before the economy tumbled. Too slow to get rid of problem divisions. Upper management is very well compensated but the lower level jobs are poorly paid. Small company atmosphere can be stifling as well as positive.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more involved with what is going on internally.

Pros

Great management; wonderful colleagues. I worked at the university coffee shop and probably also would have given tours at the tea factory if I had stayed longer in Boulder, Colorado. I really liked my manager and the manager's assistant, and I worked at various locations, and liked everyone I worked with. I felt that the compensation was fair and could have envisioned moving into management positions, and perhaps out of the cafe entirely, eventually. I got great customer service experience, and I was allowed to work on my own a lot of the time, which I appreciated. I never felt micromanaged.

Cons

My positions, obviously, was not a lofty one, so the customers were occasionally (make that often) very difficult - people are very particular about their coffee or tea and the way in which it is made. For the most part, the service industry is like that, though - you just have to get used to it, and I did. I occasionally (very seldom) felt that I was at the very bottom or far end of a branch of a large corporation, but the people I worked with made up for that, and what do you expect, anyway? I don't know what changes have taken place since Celestial merged with Hain...

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing...