Monster Inc Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – I honed the skills necessary to navigate and manage relationships with very strong-minded, adversarial, aggressive colleagues.
The company's culture (inadvertently) fosters tight-knit, supportive groups within individual departments; many of my closest, meaningful friendships are with people I met while with the company.
Great legacy brand, looks good on a resume.

Cons – Sales & Marketing vs. Operations - classic corporate power struggle, magnified to the extreme here.
Poor communication about company goals and initiatives from senior and executive management.
No profit/loss accountability to a board of directors or any shareholders as the CEO is the sole owner.

Advice to Senior Management – Introduce at least some transparency internally around company initiatives and goals to keep line employees and lower & middle management engaged.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than a year

Pros – Experience, fast paced, and lots of travel

Cons – No time for a personal life

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Monster Inc full-time for more than a year

Pros – I’m a current employee at Monster who has been compelled to write due to all the negative comments on Glassdoor regarding Monster. I’ve thought a lot about this company and what it would take to change it. But let’s face it. Noel Lee owns it and runs it. We can try to influence him but we can’t change him. That said, he does respond to certain personalities and not all of them are “yes” men. Those who are honest, direct, and unafraid will be heard. He won’t always agree and you must be ready to accept his decision and move on. On the flip side, Noel should be more open to listening to the employees who have been hired for their expertise in their field and he can come across as a bully at times when he resorts to personal attacks that are simply not necessary or professional. It takes a certain personality to make it successfully at Monster. It’s not for everyone.

I’ve seen complaints about work/life balance and it can be an issue if you let it. But you can set boundaries and stick to them. You just need to have the courage to do so. In my opinion, for many of the employees (but not all), this is their biggest job ever and it shows in inexperience and immaturity. They are aghast at being called on the carpet for error and re-dos. Frankly, if Noel or a manager asks for something and you do half of the request, it is not acceptable nor would it be anywhere else. Many employees tend to proceed without asking questions or getting clarification before starting on a critical project. Accountability is one of our biggest issues and unfortunately, lack of accountability breeds lack of trust.

No, the money isn’t great and there’s a lot of work to get done so hours can be long at times. But there are some real positives around here, too. Passionate people, great products, flexibility, some fun activities once in awhile. Sure, it can be better. But I don't think the negative comments blaming HR are warranted. They aren’t supposed to be the cheerleaders. I think their hands are tied and often can’t be the employee advocate they would prefer to be. But what do you want them to do? Save your butt if you aren’t performing? That’s not going to happen anywhere! And look around – they get pulled in fill in the gaps in marketing or administration – and that’s not easy! So coming down on HR is just another blame game.

And as far as Noel buying expensive cars – come on! It’s his money! He can spend it any way he chooses. Personally, I only hope it’s not at the expense of jobs, raises or bonuses.

Monster has been through tough times in the past and has rebounded. I believe it has staying power but will experience rough patches like any other company in this or other industries. If you are cut out to weather the storm, it’s a decent place to work. If you get seasick, get off the ship.

Cons – Periodic long hours or weekends, inexperienced staff, mediocre pay, too many projects spread the staff too thin, privately held company - if it were public, there would be more accountability, one owner who can be a bully

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on the high profit products, cut those that don't make money and do the remaining ones really well! Appreciate your employees - manage through positive reinforcement, not intimidation or scare tactics. Treat the employees as people, not things. Be more transparent in communication with employees. They see through the smoke anyway. Talk to each other - silos don't work!! Push back HARD on Noel Lee and run the company - don't let him run you.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Monster Inc full-time

Pros – -genuinely nice and helpful co-workers
-decent products
-flexible hours

Cons – -NOEL LEE
-unorganize
-no merit raise, bonus is a joke but don't worry, if you work hard enough, Noel will get a new (few hundred thousands $) car and make sure to rub it in

Advice to Senior Management – -Gently ask Noel to step down as CEO. He needs to focus in the product development process and not over extending his public appearances.
-Respect people's personal time. Promote work/life balance
-Show Noel glassdoor reviews

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – No education requirements. Many workers only have a high school education or overseas equivalent and it was never a problem. I also had no experience in the CE industry. I even had termination from my old job and was welcomed in to my dismay.

Cons – No raises whatsoever, every year the benefits shrink, healthcare gets re-negotiated and everyone applauds them for lowering costs, but no one sees that the employee pays more. Each year my rent goes up but my pay at monster goes techically goes down. We raise the price of cables internationally and pay more each year to monster suppliers, but the employees get nothing. There are no merit raises, annual reviews, or HR department. Really there is no HR ever in their office. They pretend to run marketing or are "working from home". The few times Ive contacted HR it was like a big burden for them to do work. For all of you new hires, make sure you negotiate your salary very high, because thats all youll get.

Advice to Senior Management – Upper management needs to listen to its employees and benchmark themselves with other CE companies. Create a HR department and raise the morale of the workers who make monster great. I worked in Finance and I saw all of the salaries go up and up of all the EC members. Some got raises over 400% in the last 5 years. My advice to hire A-players and do what you can to make them happy. Do not be afraid to hire people smarter than you. Yea they may take your job one day, but thats the way the world works. All of the upper management are dictators who bark orders and are so scared of the CEO they become "YES" managers to everything the CEO says. Also not a single person in the company can deal with the senior management of the sales team. Leaders need to engage their workers and inspire them, be role models. Seeing the Senior Sales VP's at Monster show me all of the things I never want to be in a leader. If you have leaders that everyone likes, they will enjoy their jobs more and take a sense of pride working for Monster.

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than a year

Pros – -Free overpriced electronics, that you can give to your family to make up for the time you don't get to spend with them do to being overworked
-Decent benefits - Pay is alright, Healthcare is subsidized, and a matching 401k
-A lot of the people are pretty cool but have weird sense of loyalty
-You get to see a lot of cool cars that the CEO buys with all his profits
-You will never be more grateful once you find a new job

Cons – -Absolutely no work/life balance. Long nights and weekends trying to keep the company afloat. You're friends and family will hate you, many relationships have ended courtesy of Monster.
-No solid direction. Monster was on its deathbed until the Beats deal saved the company (they then proceeded to ruin that deal). The CEO thinks that the whole beats model can be copied making partnerships with B-List Celebrities. The company claims to be a well rounded CE manufacturer but in reality all they seem to do is come out with headphones that they can use to get closer to the celebrity scene.
-Management is there because they will never be able to get a similar job elsewhere. They are all "Yes Men" doing whatever the supreme leader Noel Lee tells them to do regardless of how bad it is for the business.
-The work environment is not only Hostile, it is toxic and will wear you down physically and emotionally
-No growth opportunity, like I said management will never leave because they aren't qualified to receive an equal title elsewhere, so there is no room to grow upward. They will dangle the carrot and promise you opportunity to move up but don't expect anything but lateral change, which will get you nowhere in life.
-Cheap Cheap Cheap- The CEO rakes in a ton of money through his privately own company but don't expect that to be kicked down to the people that actually do work. The bonuses are pathetic, even during good years. No profit sharing. No raises- you pretty much have to find a job elsewhere before they start to offer you more. Don't get me wrong money is spent but its mainly spent on celebrity relationships and the CEO's cars.

Advice to Senior Management – -Learn to proactively take care of your employees. Don't wait until they have found a new job before you start offering $ and promotions. At that point its too late. You will lose every capable 'A Player' employee if you can't offer to them what other companies will, then you will just get stuck with a bunch of pigs in the mud. A simple 'Thank you' can go a long way.
-Learn how to say 'NO' to Noel, the ship will sink if you don't! Loyalty only makes sense if the person you are loyal to is taking your best interest into consideration, not their own car collection.
-If you are trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice, coming out with dozens of headphones every year is not a scalable solution to your loss in revenue.
-Start taking HR violations seriously, people just run around doing whatever they want and never seem to get punished.
-Stop making fake reviews on Glassdoor and having all of HR click like on them so they trend at the top, talented people will come aboard and then just leave.
-Learn how to work together, instead of constantly tossing each other under the bus. You will never make any positive progress with that mentality. Its a workplace not a political race, don't fire people because they question your reasoning fire them because they suck at their job.
-Get organized, look at how other companies handle CES, they are prepared months before hand rather than scrambling around like bunch of chickens with their heads cut off.
-Finally go find a new Job, watching a ship sink from the shore is much better than scrambling for a life raft.

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great co-workers and a good place to get your feet wet. There were also some benefits with employee discount and non-fixed hours. As long as you did 8 hrs it didnt matter what time you came in.

Cons – Management was haphazard from the top down. Noel either needs to retire or replace all the yes men that have taken over his upper management team. Also there is no planning or forethought. Everything is reactionary. Finally its dog eat dog with no one having your back and HR is there in name only.

Advice to Senior Management – Look within yourself and see if your actions are actually good for the company and not just for yourself. Otherwise you should do everyone a favor and quit.

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc

Pros – The worker bees are great people and can teach you a lot if you are fresh out of college.

Cons – Poor benefits, no room for advancement, and no raises.

Advice to Senior Management – Dont promise room for advancement then take someone from a good job to go to Monster. I worked here for 2.5 years and found out there are NO RAISES. I thought it was a joke but co-workers told me you have to beg for a raise even after 5 years. I would go to HR to ask for a raise, but honestly after 2.5 years Im not sure Monster has a HR department. I recommend you hire a Sales Leader, not someone no one can stand. If no ones likes your leader, what do you think the field thinks of your leaders, or the buyers who buy the product.

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc

Pros – Great community of talented work staff.

Cons – Horrible CEO. Absolutely no work-life balance. Don't be surprised to get a call at 2am.
Beware of HR!!! Deceitful
no communication between executive teams.

Advice to Senior Management – The CEO will not change his ways. there is really nothing else to do. Its doomed to fail.

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

Former Employee – worked at Monster Inc full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – You get to see the world
Some great people and personalities there
A few decent products

Cons – CEO pushes his staff to the limits and unnecessarily changes his mind on everything just to keep you working. Inevitably, he always reverts back to the original project plans meaning you have wasted weeks/months in planning and preparation. He tries to make you and his dealers believe he is the 'second coming' but the reality is he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He doesn't listen to anyone as his word is gospel and has a terrible habit of even falling asleep while you talk to him. He is by no means the self professed audiophile that he claims to be. The products alone testify to that.

No career development or structure. The whole company has no structure and very unprofessional. They apparently have an HR department but rules and development at Monster don't seem to exist.

Have a life? Not at Monster you don't. This is not the job for you if you value your work/life balance.

Those that progress always hide behind the hard workers who get no recognition.

They don't seem to have a quality control department and all complaints over construction quality and issues goes unnoticed.

Best practices are not shared as much as they believe they are and territories seem to make up their own business rules

HR ask for employees for anonymous feedback but never do anything about it

Advice to Senior Management – There is no point in giving advice to management here as they are in the CEO's shadow and completely live in fear of him.

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