Rain Bird Reviews

Pros

Outstanding people in the trenches... talented and dedicated to doing great work. Too bad no one wants to stay.

Cons

Rain Bird is a dictatorship led by an insecure narrow-minded over-the-hill autocrat who only holds the reigns of power because he inherited the company his parents founded. The company's problems are clearly with the ownership and the inapt leadership team the CEO/owner has put in place. A leadership team whose first concern is self preservation.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up! How long do you think you can fumble and bumble your way through this before a real competitor comes along and eats your lunch?

Pros

great field sales position with a true hands on approach with products
provides company vehicle and multiple trips to Tucson, AZ
good team environment among other account managers
sales are through distributors, so there are no direct orders
competitive base salary
well educated staff
benefits include cell phone, laptop, home office

Cons

employee review sets you up for a poor score when the organization bases sales on revenue not units and you are operating in a "down" economy
high turnover of product managers
products are slow to market requiring years of R&D
sales are through distributors
it takes a lot of kissing up to move up in the company
if you don't like excel spreadsheets, don't work there

Advice to Senior Management

provide intranet/on-line methods of tracking and reporting

Pros

-Rain Bird admittedly only looks for and hires "the best of the best" -- so you will work with many bright, innovative people
-The company is ethical and conservative in its business dealings and has been around since the 30's...
-Quality is targeted in every aspect of the operation...from administration to production line...quality isn't merely hype at Rain Bird...it is literally THE expectation (and nothing less)

Cons

-I have never worked anywhere where employee morale was so horrible -- all areas, all levels, all locations...employee morale is unbelievably low
-Big brother is watching...your email, your voicemail, the company even traces your internet activity......so much for trust
-The company forces all managers to "grade" all employees from A - F on a regular basis, according to a normal distribution, so each manager only has a small # of A's..more B-C's, then forceably some D's and F's. (Employee's are mostly unaware of this directly because it isn't shared--but if you are a D or F, you will know because your manager will receive constant and direct pressure from on high to move you OUT!) This is an ugly process
-The turnover is ridiculous -- in all departments. It's so bad the company has an unwritten policy to never distribute information about "departures", the only notification is when an email is returned as undeliverable....no matter how key the position.
-The company is private, and so obsessively private it is ridiculous. The culture is outright paranoia about disclosure or dissemination of information...so much so that at times employees don't have the information necessary to do their job...even if they are held accountable for it.
-HR is a joke, and that is kind. Lead by a former accountant with zero HR training or background, and this is obvious...HR at Rain Bird is about as human as a general ledger.... put simply...HR has one of highest turnover rates in the company. Enough said.
-What training or documented job descriptions and procedures?

Advice to Senior Management

--Ask yourself why so many good people leave. Sorry, but the "can't take it line" is a loser...since you only hire "the best of the best", submitting people to endless (sometimes more than 4-5 interviews), you either across the board stink at hiring, or something is wrong. Something is wrong. So much talent has left here! Very, Very, Very good talent.
--hire an outside firm, or even use an independent internet site to survey your employees anonymously--nobody trusts the ridiculous internal survey HR developed because everybody knows HR can identify the submitting party (and at Rain Bird, HR is not seen an advocate of the employee)
-listen to the outside consulting firm, harvest a culture of trust and innovation and creativity. Your current evaluation and ranking system and rush to push people out limits creativity and initiative because a simple mistake by yourself (or your boss who can pass it on to you) can be your demise.
-use technology, please.

Pros

Great money at first, until you realize how inequitable pay is distributed in this company. Work with very talented peers

Cons

Stupid Stupid company led by someone who should have retired long ago. Everyone scared to give honest reviews as it would be detrimental to your job

Advice to Senior Management

Tony retire, share information between the SBU's, quit exporting all the jobs to the Mexico facility. Listen to employee critique

Pros

The pay is pretty decent and the benefits are great. The company is also good at flexible scheduling and supporting the education of it's employees.

Cons

There is little to no morale and it is a rather depressing place to work. If you come in with no hopes of advancing in your career, then you picked the right place.

Advice to Senior Management

Encouragement and support of your employees might work better than demoralizing them. Nobody wants to work for a company that doesn't appreciate them.

Pros

Good learning school because even if you screw it up or not your going to get fired or their going to freez you in your position forever

Cons

Overload of work with minimum recognition only to“key” employees
Not much support from upper management or busting employee moral
Since it’s not a public trading company sales team and management in USA plants do obscene spending at company cost affecting other Rain Bird plants outside of the United States
Same budget as the last 2 years even with uprising cost means more layoff employees
Slowly moving operations to Mexico because of cost cutting

Advice to Senior Management

Get off your high horse and make friends because some day you will be posting a review and crying because your position was move to Mexico and you will need someone to give you a job or at least an interview in Hunter where most off the exemployees have ended up

Pros

Opportunties always arise. It is a fluid organization that changes to try new tactics. You work with the most talented and driven people. Everyone shows up to deliver and dominate as a brand. It's great to represent the top brand in the industry. And, most importantly, you are given many tools to deliver the results.

Cons

Not for the faint of heart. You have to deliver.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on a culture of developing talent.

Pros

Rain Bird is a Big / Little company. They are expanding and there is a lot of opportunity for you to provide input and change things providing you do it the correct way. The pay is very competitive and the benefits are good. You have the opportunity to travel to exotic places if your position allows ( Europe, Australia and China )
I think it all depends on who you report to. I reported to Mitch Wolf, who was an excellent boss. He got results and had all the respect of everyone who worked for him. He was very fair and still got the results that were requested of him and his team. He was very aware of work-life balance and I enjoyed working for hiim very much.

Cons

In my opinion, there is a cap to where your career can go unless you are willing to move to Arizona. Thats not necessarily a bad thing if your okay with moving but it can hinder the motiviation sometimes if you are not working in AZ and want to advance your career with Rain Bird. Also, there is not a huge emphasis on HR and IT. So a lot of the tools that can be there to make your job easier sometimes are not there and you are required to handle them.

Advice to Senior Management

Utilize the employee feedback strategy different. By allowing people to entry their thoughts on computer, you will NEVER get the real feedback you desire. ( There is a perception that its not really anonymous ) Hire a third party company that comes in and does the review and do it twice a year so that you can see how you are progressing as a company. You will never get better unless this is done.
Also strive for consistency amoung different groups and look at how bonus structures are done. There are a lot of times where people are incented to work against each other and not help each other out.

Pros

Pay is competitive
Co-workers are great (smart, friendly, outgoing, helpful)
Product line is well known and of above average quality
Cash position seems to be ample (even in this time)
I'm still employed even during this downturn
Once you figure out the game - you can have an easy life at the Bird.

Cons

*Don't come to work for the Bird unless you are desperate and if you do, do not relocate your family.*
They hire slowly and fire quickly, which is fine but this company goes through people like there is no tomorow. In my area, in one position, we have seen about 14 people shuffle through in ten years. It might work for the company but I don't recommend you subject yourself to the environment if you don't have to - the Bird isn't so great that you should take that kind of risk and the rewards are no better than at another company. You'll read some comments on this board about HR's counter to that statement is that some people cannot hack it - aren't high performance people. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is very difficult to get through the Rain Bird door if you aren't driven and smart. HR may be right..maybe people cannot take the heat - - I would counter, "Why should they if there are alternatives that pay about the same but offer a better work/life balance..."

Expectations aren't always clear and they change without notice
Poor results of badly planned initiatives are blamed down the chain - "If it failed, it must have been the execution - not the planning"
Amazing number of hours - 70+ and not really accomplishing anything substantial
No mentoring or coaching - especially how to navigate the Bird's culture
My impression is that the ultimate goal is to show senior management how much work is being done without really getting anything done.

Advice to Senior Management

Not sure what I would recommend - we seem to spend alot of time of looking busy instead of being busy.

Pros

Tucson is a nice City to live with excellent weather 9 or 10 months out of the year.
Co-workers are friendly, hardworking and willing to work as a team. (You will have many opportunities to develop professional realationships due to the extremely high turn over).
Your first 18 months will likely be good, but once the honeymoon period is over watch out!

Cons

1. Few people last longer than three years.
2. Company philosophy is to bring in talented, intelligent people from top schools and reputable companies to let them make a contribution for 2 to 3 years while they are eager to prove themselves and hungry for a promotion, then they force them out before salaries get too high.
3. Succession planning is everything and can limit your longevity. You might be wonderful at your job, but if they think you aren't the material for your boss’s job they will force you out rather than let you stay in your job or give you a lateral move.
4. HR does little to remedy your concerns. Behind closed doors they will admit the company's treatment of employees is "harsh", but they take their marching orders from "The Man" and don't want to jeopardize their own paycheck.
5. Company is paranoid of its employees. Fear of unionization. E-mails will be monitored, sometimes your phone line too. Arbitration agreement is signed on day one of employment to thwart potential lawsuits. (This should be a red flag).
6. Few promotions from within. When someone leaves (usually fired), the company will give the person's responsibilities to the remaining employees with no compensation.
7. Corrective action is the weapon of choice for manipulation and fear tactics. Consider it an invitation to find another job because many people receive it but few people survive the process.
8. You must be on constant guard regarding what you say and who you associate with. Say the wrong thing in a meeting even in a humorous tone and you will be blacklisted and out the door faster than you can say "corrective action memo".
9. They pride themselves of fairness, but there is little diversity. It is mostly white male dominated. There are very few African Americans working there, and they don't seem to stay very long. Considering the large Hispanic population in Tucson, there are relatively few Hispanics as well. There are very few women or people of color that will make it to upper management positions. If you are gay or lesbian, be prepared to stay in the closet. When the HR Department was cut in half recently, the three oldest were let go.
10. No loyalty whatsoever to the employees. "What have you done for me lately?" is the company's attitude. You must write a lengthy and time consuming bi-monthly report to rationalize why you should still be on the payroll. Inside Rain Bird it is known as "the rope you will use to hang yourself". The company is always looking for someone to force out.

Overall there is a very adversarial relationship between employer and employee at Rain Bird. Most people grin and put up with it because these are tough economic times, but it isn't pleasant.

If you interview here, be sure to ask how long everyone has been here. That should tell you plenty. Directors that have plenty of scapegoats below them tend to have longer tenure.

Advice to Senior Management

You may be profitable, but your ethics account is bankrupt.