Kohler Reviews

Pros

Private, diverse, lots of people work here for decades. The town is neat and the hotels and golf courses are great. The whole family is involved. The younger generation is more progressive but Mr Kohler has created something extraordinary

Cons

Takes ages to get any decisions because of a crazy approval process that is required for anything including hiring, firing, purchasing, promotions etc. Morale can be pretty low at times because of these frustrations.

Advice to Senior Management

Empower your managers. They are experts in their fields which is why they were hired (presumably) so let them make decisions and hold them accountable for the results. Live by your own core competencies - build trust

Pros

Privately owned, focused on being the best rather than the cheapest, fantastic co-workers, overall intelligence of co-workers, family friendly, brand image, opportunities for those who produce.

Cons

Can be bureaucratic when making decisions leading to slow action, timidity of middle management, decision by committee leads to lack of individual ownership.

Pros

-Support for continuing education and competency related training.
-Exciting culture for golf enthusiasts.
-Company offers interesting and somewhat unique projects.

Cons

-Innovation not welcome. Entrepreneurial spirit is discouraged by middle management, despite plea by CEO.
-Majority of decision making entirely up to CEO. Decision making is painfully slow. As a result, opportunities are missed.
-Politics run rampant throughout all levels of management.
-Numerous instances of misalignment between stakeholder and management objectives.

Advice to Senior Management

Figure out how to bring back the entrepreneurial spirit in the companies departments. A tremendous amount of money could be saved.

Pros

people were talented and good to work with , good management practices in most areas, good benefits, work environment was professional and pleasant,

Cons

Some dinosaurs are still in management and are dragging the company downward. Layoffs at the time were basically age based but considered legal.

Advice to Senior Management

Herb Kohler needs to take back the company and quit letting family and MBA types run the company. Company is not what it was 10 years ago. Quit running the company like an automobile manufacturer (layoffs, cost cutting downsizing) and go back to what works.

Pros

Good health care benefits
Pleasant working environment
Broad product assortment

Cons

Interview process takes months to hire the most qualified canidates but gives them no autonomy Constantly micromanaged
Takes weeks for corporate to make decisions and employee's are seldom included
Will not hear suggestions or ask for feedback or opinions
Overinflated opinion of themselves in the marketplace

Advice to Senior Management

Once you've hired the best person for the job, let them do it and pay them what they're worth.

Pros

Great benefits, opportunities to advance and travel, prominent high-profile projects.

Cons

Tendency of management to kill unconventional thinking, a whole lot of CYA.

Pros

have had a lot of fun enjoying the growth opportunity for the company and for myself, satisfied with the learning opportunity

Cons

general speaking there is no obvious downside of working at Kohler except the working location is a little bit far

Pros

The position allowed me to further my knowledge in the machining process. The fellow employees that I had interactions with were very friendly and put forth a good amount of effort in doing their best job.

Cons

Management at this facility in particular is completely incompetent. My experience has been that they play favorites and will have nothing to do with any ideas for process improvement. The managers will go to great lengths to show you (in front of others) why your idea has no merit, and that their idea is most feasible. One manager that was particularly prone to doing this didn't even have a degree in the field of those he was managing.

Advice to Senior Management

Please pay closer attention to the practices of mid-upper level management. The more ideas presented to address an issue, the more likely a company will be successful. Put managers in place who have extensive experience in the same field of those they manage.

Pros

Branding Exposure and Recognition, Large Company, Great Training Ground

Cons

Politics, Scrutiny, Micro-Management, There is a process for everything even if there is no need for a process. The company does not value creativity and base decisions based on history and past practices. Compensation system is poor and not designed pay based on skill and competency.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people

Pros

Amazing products and brand
Decent benefits
Some amazing co-workers
Lots of low hanging fruit
Excellent brand awareness and strength
The design center is second to none

Cons

The level of bureaucracy completely smothers progress, not to mention creativity
The corporate HR group is hypocritical, overbearing, distrustful, and out of touch. They have absolute veto power, and oppose them, even when it is right for the business and your career is over.
The Kohlers, especially the Chairman, expect a level of deference that is a throwback to the 50's.
The pay is not competitive and promoting someone or giving someone an out-of-cycle increase requires an ACT (a lengthy justification document) that has to be approved by a senior executive.
There is no career advancement unless you want to liv in KOHLER, Wisconsin
The mid-level executives spend most their time preparing for meetings with HVK (Herb Kohler's code name)

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees (and not just the canned Gallup survey)
Trust your people
Relax the ACT process
Take a hard look at the compensation guidelines. The comp group is afraid to tell you the truth.