Novellus Reviews

Pros

Older established company, good name recognition within the industry, reputation for past performance may be helpful, probably will stay in business for the forseeable future

Cons

Management values itself more that competent technical contributors, hires and fires employees at a whim depending on the business cycle, professes customer orientation but does not practice it, poor career and salary growth, management values "talkers" more than "doers"

Advice to Senior Management

Get over yourselves! You will remain a second-rate company as long as you value story-tellers more than the people who actually make the product work

Pros

Profit sharing
Intelligent employees
Hard workers
Customer-focused
Family environment
Helpful employees

Cons

Compensation is below average compared to competitors.
The departments work too lean.
No accountability for bad behavior.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the teams at the lower level. They have valuable information about the company.

Pros

- if you can survive here, you can survive anywhere
- your peers are awesome and will be there to support you
- very fast paced

Cons

- Semiconductor capital equipment industry is extremely cyclical, and the ebb and flow of the business will affect your job workload
- long hours and little appreciation from your superiors
- high turnover rate
- nepotism

Advice to Senior Management

- take advantage of the talent and enthusiasm of some of your employees; empower them and let them do their thing! there's so much untapped potential here...
- come into the 21st century please... management style is still very old school
- competitive salaries would be nice

Pros

good insurance, laptop provided, reasonable pay,

Cons

Too many managers and VP's, managers and supervisors have no real people skills, they are too busy protecting their turf to care or worry about people reporting to them, they seem to intentionally create hard feelings between FSE's, spreading rumors and telling personal information to coworkers. employee's are just a number, forced to work more hours than can be sustained which effects personal time to where you feel like you can't even make an appointment.

Advice to Senior Management

get real managers here, people that make the employee feel they are valued and their contribution is important. Stop promoting new VP's every month when none of the rank and file have had promotions in years.

Pros

The pay is reasonable and the benefits are fairly good. Work hours are reasonable. Respect for employees' need for vacation times and family times. Focused on execution of management directives.

Cons

Very little ability for any working levels management to make decisions. Executives make all the decisions, expect everyone to be robotic. Management is somewhat of "old boys" net work. Limited opportunity to advance. The company is boxed in. Very little room to grow. Their competition is Applied. Novellus' strong product lines are small in market size while their weak products have large market size. Have no confidence that the senior management knows how to get out of the box.

Advice to Senior Management

Think outside the box

Pros

1. I got a pay check.
2. I learned a small amount about the semiconductor equipment manufacturing.
3. Worked in a clean environment.

Cons

1. Too many hours! Was working 63 hours, 6 days a week in manufacturing!
2. Many changes happened with manufacturing that made it more difficult to get your work done.
3. Forced by engineering and management to make electrical wiring straight and at 90 degree angles when connecting to computers, junction boxes and metering devices. Wires in a bundle could not cross each other. If they did management would force you to redo it. This makes the wiring look pretty and beautiful, but does nothing electrically for the machine! We were forced to make the wiring out of junction boxes come out in straight lines and at right angles and go into the wiring bundle. I thought this looked odd and was a huge waste of time!
4. Too many people working in manufacturing putting machines together. We did not have enough tools or work for all the people they hired. Has anyone at Novellus ever heard of the law of diminishing returns?
5. In general poor communication between management and employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Management really needs a MASSIVE change in how they do business and the way they deal with employees. I saw NO effort or concern by management to make things better for employees. If you are considering employment with this company I would strongly advise against working at Novellus Systems Inc. This is a BAD company to work for.

Pros

Compressed work week, more days off. Work can be satisfying unless you are subjected to a certain customer's dictatorship, in which case under no circumstances will you be allowed to think for yourself. Umm ... that's about it.

Cons

Utterly incompetent management. No promotions. No raises. Harsh pay cuts. No recognition for outstanding performance, ie - your reward is no punishment. Frequent shift changes made without consultation, without warning, and without sufficient time to rearrange personal affairs. Need I say more?

Advice to Senior Management

If you can fix this mess, you deserve to have your picture on the cover of the Wall Street Journal.

Pros

Most of the people that work at Novellus are very talented. The company aggressively drives programs that focus on the financial performance of the company. Novellus is committed to customer satisfaction at all levels.

Cons

Novellus under staffs their organizations that does not allow time to execute on all strategic initiatives. This also creates hardships for the employees to support a healthy work / life balance. Communication from the top down is not down very well. There is little room for advancement. Novellus holds on to non performing business units for too long to the detriment of the financial health of the company

Advice to Senior Management

Evaluate how information is communicated to the employees. The lack of information leads to a breeding ground for rumors and as a result a dissatisfied work force. Implement a structured program to allow for employee advancement. Go back to the basics. What worked well for Novellus before that made them a very successful and profitable company. This was an exciting time to work at Novellus. Executive Managment: Get back in touch with what is going on at the working level in the company

Pros

Opportunity for growth and development for self starters and motivated individuals.

Cons

If working in the field you are tied to contracts with little exposure unless you pursue thos tenaciously.

Advice to Senior Management

Give the field more recognition

Pros

There is good work life balance as it is a typical 9 to 6 company. the employees are very friendly, easy to mix together.

Cons

Promotion tends to be biased. it does not solely depend on your talent and performance, but on your relationship with the senior management

Advice to Senior Management

It should establish a more meritocratic system in terms of promoting its employees. It should give its employees the flexibility to work overseas if they are willing to do so.