Lutron Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – - great salary to start
- offer you many different opportunities and experiences to fill the resume with as well as allowing you to see where you'd like your career to go
- keep most things in-house, so if you desire to change career paths completely, you could just make a move within the company rather than leaving the company
- global company with still small company mentality, which offers even the lowest rank employees some awesome opportunities to go across the world or meet VIPs
- it is a company whose products are the market leader in their category, which does give you a sense of pride to work on
- easy accessibility to upper management

Cons – - very extremely high expectations; will just add and add to your pile until you break, which is then construed as weakness
- no comp time, so even if you are traveling on a weekend, you are expected in on a monday
- leaving at 530pm will provoke comments such as "half day?" despite coming in at 730am and working through your hour lunch and perhaps bringing your lap top home
- the owner is very vicious and will scream in meetings, asking where you got your education, what your gpa and sct score was, and tell you that you should get your money back
- the owner still has his hands in everything; still runs it like it is a mom and pop shop and will have final say on everything, even if you have the market research that argues differently; causes predicaments because he is 83 and thus, a little old school
- poor benefits; no dental or vision unless pay exorbiantly for it
- for a world leader in technology, internal systems are still very archaic; purchase orders, expense reports still handwritten, typewriters can still be found
- everyone has a cubicle, even directors; only VPs are allowed to have a door, but even some of their "offices" are high-walled cubes with doors; makes it a loud and easily interruptive environment to work in

Advice to Senior Management – The motto around CB is "we hired you because you're smart; go figure it out". This brings me to 2 points. One, have faith in our decisions. We have more experience in our areas of expertise and have probably done more research on it. Two, we need easier processes or at least established corporate processes. We have no org chart, things are constantly changing that we spend more time trying to figure out how to do something than actually doing it. This is company time wasted and thus, money wasted for you.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Lutron

Pros – The best thing about working at Lutron is that the company does a great job recruiting top talent. Nearly everyone at the company is very smart, talented, and hard working. They are also just good people, who are fun to work with.
The company puts a premium on R and D; as a private company, they don't have to answer to shareholders, and therefore can invest in innovation at much higher levels. Lutron products are high quality.
In times of personal hardship, Lutron takes care of its people. The company prides itself on never having had a layoff, and is extremely loyal to long standing employees.

Cons – Unfortunately, the 83 year old founder of the company still runs things. And little has changed in the management practices, policies, and organization since he founded the company by inventing the first solid state dimmer switch in the early 60's. The founder surrounds himself with enablers who he trusts, and they in turn carry out his whims--and rarely, if ever, tell him "no." There is no strategic planning to speak of, and while R and D is a strength, there is little development based on market needs. Market research is non-existent. Human Resources is actually called "Personnel," and not surprisingly, there is no professional HR leadership in the areas of compensation, organizational effectiveness, career development, and performance management. Further, the organization is completely decentralized, and organizations spring up or disappear based on the priority of the month. There is little understanding by senior leadership of the value of strategic Information Technology, so the network infrastructure is stuck in the 90s. Lastly, in keeping with management practices of the 60s, there is very little effective communications from senior leadership to employees.

Advice to Senior Management – CEO John Longenderfer retired in 2010, and has not been replaced. He was in many ways the alter ego of the founder, and provided business focus that is now lacking. I suggest that Lutron develop a succession plan for the founder that includes hiring a professional CEO from outside the company that will know how to run it properly, and will be allowed to make changes that will bring the company into the 21st Century.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Freedom to explore many opportunities within the company, no "day to day" task lists, talented and friendly peers. Many locations and offices allow individuals to work away from the corporate campus.

Cons – Aging upper management / ownership is content in operating as a 1960's company and refuses to adopt forward thinking ways instilling the unwritten philosophy that "the engineer is always right" (this applies to marketing, sales, personnel, etc. with disastrous results).

No real advancement opportunities, miserly raises, infrequent and extremely incremental promotions. Lutron employees are looked upon as a collection of chess pieces, often hired from well known corporations or with excellent credentials but the company fails to utilize these people to their strengths and will repurpose individuals outside of their expertise, believing that successes translate to vastly different tasks. Questionable "leaders" with poor to non-existant management and employee development skills. Lutron fails to understand how to keep talented individuals from leaving (currently a large issue) and employee moral high.

Lutron can be an extremely stressful place to work, individuals are expected to come early and stay late (beyond the scope of the typical 8-5 day) with no real concern for personal lives of employees.

Employee feedback to the upper management means nothing, and will always fall on deaf ears. Lutron operates in its own bubble and fails to react to market demands, choosing rather to build "toys" for the aging ownership - often leading to questionable product and undermining company bottom line. This translates to excuses for the lack of raises (salary freeze) and bonuses for the masses.

To recap, horrendous management with extremely inept leaders, no advancement and low pay, very stressful environment. Stay away if you value your career or until massive changes take place.

Advice to Senior Management – Management needs to promote from within, the vacant "director level and up" positions are NEVER filled by existing management level employees. Lutron chooses to hire these upper level individuals from other companies with no real correlation to their new Lutron role, these "experiments" fail 99% of the time creating a glut of newly hired upper management that are orphaned and left to collect dust in a corner until contracts are over.

The raises are akin to 1960's level dollar-wise, not even keeping pace with inflation. If an individual lived long enough and continued to work at Lutron, they would eventually find themselves living in poverty.

Stress is high, ownership often calls emergency meetings with less than a day notice creating a fire drill for dozens of employees and plummeting productivity to create a meaningless trinket or document. Employees are asked to go above and beyond with no real reward for the added effort or sacrifice.

Lutron believes it can do no wrong and refuses to learn from its own mistakes, once they begin to understand the changing landscape of business this thinking will change, this is not likely to happen soon.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Focussed on engineering high quality products
Very collaborative environment, all employess are given a chance to share ideas and make suggestions
Young dynamic and fun workforce
Good technical training and lots of in-house technical expertise
Great personal development program
Easy to get involved in other aspects of the business besides only engineering

Cons – Starting salaries are pretty good, but moving up from there seemed a bit slow.
Projects tend to drag on
All engineers are involved in technical support. This is a good learning experience, but can be quite taxing and time consuming.

Advice to Senior Management – Give employees more long term incentive to stick around.
Push engineers to find simpler ways of solving their problems. Complex solutions lead to too many bugs, too much technical support, and too much maintenance down the road.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Lutron

Pros – Engineers are typically given challenging projects; peers and managers are intelligent and professional. You will learn, grow, be challenged, and have plenty to do. Employees are given respect for their abilities; great products to work on, opportunities to move into sales or recruiting even if you are hired as an engineer; they look for people who are smart but also well-rounded. You are encouraged if not required to help with the interviewing process which is a ton of fun; co-workers will often go out of their way to help and teach you. Fun after work activities like softball, rock climbing, basketball, etc. Great location and place to live. Grocery store, places to eat are very close by. Easy commute. Lehigh Valley is a great place to live.

Cons – Pressure to stay late is consistent but not required; an 8-5 day would be close to the minimum. 8-5:30 or even 8-6 is closer to the norm. A common trend was to show up late and leave late which was annoying for someone like me who enjoys daylight activities. Vacation time is below average; no official flex hours; timelines and deadlines seem deliberately unrealistic to apply pressure to work longer hours. Professionalism is sometimes taken to the extreme. For example, non-work related discussions, like "how was your weekend?", "how are the kids?" can be non-existent. Lutron expects you to work hard and to go above and beyond for them. They take pride in keeping you out of your comfort zone so that you grow as a person. This can be fun, challenging, and rewarding, but it can wear you down. It can be difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance and have career advancement. Local job market is limited if you choose to leave.

Advice to Senior Management – Continue to hire the best and brightest, but allow for more flexibility, work-life balance for those who want it. Applying continual pressure and expecting people to put Lutron first in their lives can cause good people to leave. Don't expect all employees to fit the same mold.

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Good opportunities for advancement for those willing to work hard, good support for taking on new challenges and other lateral movement

Cons – Private ownership can be erratic and unpredictable, low level of respect, trust and honesty between upper management and general employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Building trust and respect between levels of management will be a key as the company continues to grow. A more quantitative approach to project evaluation is also important.

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Its a great place to start working after college and they have a great salary/benefits package and support former Coops and interns very well. Team based work is predominant, and employees generally work well together. There is a lot of room to move around (both horizontally to other business units) and vertically (into lower management). Further education is encouraged, especially through in house classes by local educators.

Cons – It is a younger company. Many in the lower management are less than 30 years old, which could affect some of the relationships with older employees.

Advice to Senior Management – As a private company, it can be difficult to effectively communicate how the company is doing with the current economy. Remain as open as you can, especially to employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – One of the best reasons to work for Lutron Electronics is its workforce - the company features very talented employees and competitive starting salaries. The company also features a relatively flat org. structure. If you happen to be an engineer, you are quite popular it this company and will find plenty of like-minded people. Also, the average age of the company is fairly low, under thirty, and many of its employees are good people.

Cons – Although starting salaries are fairly competitive, raises are less so once in the company. The company has a fairly rigid, traditional culture where "game-players" can prosper over those who do things the right way and don't cut corners. If you don't happen to be an engineer, you may find your area of the company to be somewhat slighted, belittled, or otherwise neglected.

Advice to Senior Management – If it's broke, fix it, even if a really important person didn't think of it first.

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Lutron is a thriving company, with a large range of products. There are plenty of new projects at a time, with opportunities for meaningful input and design. The location in the Lehigh Valley keeps housing within a reasonable commuting distance. The benefits are great, especially medical. Most everyone is friendly, and willing to show you what they are working on, and the direction new products are going.

Cons – Lutron has a fairly tight information culture. Many things are not to be spoken about. People often work long hous. Customer communication is tightly controlled, and many times documentation is incomplete or missing. Lutron tends to be very conservative when planning IT upgrades.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep the profits coming. Find ways to exploit a coming slowdown for growth.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lutron

Pros – Do very little work for what is paid, but this can also get boring some days.
Depending on you boss, time off it easy to get with one or two days notice.
Fairly laid back place to work, as you show up to work everyday, you will have a job.
Always looking for new ways of doing everything, not matter how stange it might sound at first.
Pride in work it really high by everyone, if there is a issue you can see it in everyone's face, till it is fixed or corrected.
Everyday is different, work place is always changing

Cons – Communication is something that Lutron does not have, but we will say we do but do nothing ever about it.
Raise are $25 a week every year. If you bend over backward often, all you get is a "thanks", get the same raise as someone who shows up everyday.
Everyday you hear two different side of what should be done of how should it be done, and it can change at anytime. then they ask why did you not know this.
People get moved around alot, if you are at one job for more then 2 years, you are lucky, most move around every year or so.

Advice to Senior Management – Instead of saying we have a communication issue do something about it.