Rain Bird Reviews

Pros

Pay is the only reason to work at Rain Bird.

Cons

Your entire focus is on reducing head count or moving product to other countries so you can reduce head count. If you're an engineer you don't do engineering you contract out engineering if your a hourly you are constantly on the chopping block and it is reinforced that you know this. The only incentive for you to do your job is so that you don't get laidoff. They keep low preformers because they are cheaper or affraid to let them go and get rid of top performers because they cost too much.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a clue and start doing your own work not having everyone under you do your work. Start making decissions on your own and start taking responsibility for your actions. Stop blaming your people for not performing when you haven't shown them how to perform or even what it is that you expect of them. Be leaders, not seat warmers, start being clear on decissions and execute your orders with clear directions.

Pros

It is a good salary, pays the bills. If you are honest and keep working hard you will survive. I don't think everything is bad with Rain Bird. Acknowledge goals are hard to reach, but such is life. You better work hard and complain less

Cons

Senior Management is not really looking for our opinion, most of top directives are at conflict with each other, there is little cooperation between working groups

Advice to Senior Management

There are a lot of good people with very good experience, should listen to them. Post mortem reviews could give good hints to others following...

Pros

Pay is great. Work is challenging. Contrary to reports, Rain Bird does have concern for their line employees and unmentioned, many of them have 25 to 35 years at their positions. Rain Bird is spending a good deal on upgrading their technology. I also like it that Rain Bird is a pay as you go company - not fettered by any debt. Rain Bird will survive the current economic turmoil.

Cons

Turnover is high but this is also due to folks coming and using Rain Bird as a stepping stone. Times are tough and Rain Bird has to deal with a lot of issues remain profitable and decisions are going to cause a lot of hardship on many employees.

Advice to Senior Management

None. The company is profitable and seems to get it right. I would have to say, try to get a handle on why there are so many disgruntled former employees.

Pros

The salary and Tucson is a small but nice city.
Employees of Rain Bird are so kind and helpful - because they know what you are facing.

Cons

- Customers do not matter; Distributors do not matter; Employees do not matter.
- Tony L have been described as not being a "people person"; this behavior filters down to the director level and ultimately plays out with all employees in the Commercial and Contractor divisions walking a tight rope. A mistake is grounds for corrective action (aka - you are being fired).
- Tribal knowledge = wasted days tracking down the one person that has some insight on the process or product in question
- New product development = make up the numbers to justify this product because the number of approved new product plans (BOI's) are on the executives incentive plan;
- Obsessive focus on grammar and spelling
- Fear of unions causes HR to ban many activities that would allow social interaction including having a cafeteria. If any company needs a union, it is Rain Bird!
- Long hours for the sake of working long hours.
- Very limited process & procedures; no training; very confidential about market and sales data ( We are up ++); no org charts; no job descriptions; no appreciation for your work

How could I have missed these clues during the hiring process?
- The interview sales pitch
    1) "There are more senior positions available than there are qualified people to fill them". Of course, this comment came on the heels of describing the company culture as "hiring only the best" and being "over achieving"...if this was true, why is promotion from within nearly impossible?
    2) High turnover is sold as "Many chose to leave because the culture is too demanding" where in reality, choose to leave = asked to resign.
    3) No opportunity to speak to anyone but those on the interview list. Other companies encourage interviewees to have lunch with others on the team, but not Rain Bird. They could say something like "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE".
- signature required for arbitration agreement (deters lawsuits for unfair firing practices).
- employee handbook is HUGE
- metal detectors in the lobby (keeps employees from harming their boss)
- Silence in the cubical areas - no meetings in offices, discussions/brainstorming, laughter.

Advice to Senior Management

It will not be heard so I won't waste my time.

Pros

Roles are not specific so you can learn a lot of different areas. There is a lot of flexibility. Most of the people are hard-working and intelligent.

Cons

There is no communication. So much turnover that nothing gets done. Senior Management is not acknowledging that there is a problem and, in many cases, are contributing to the problems.

Advice to Senior Management

You pride yourselves on hiring the best. Give these people the tools they need to succeed. Why are you surprised that people that have criticisms want to remain anonymous when anyone who brings up a problem is permanent labeled "negative"?

Pros

I liked the job...but, I was in International assigned to Bangkok Thailand covering 8 SE Asian countries. I had a ball. Later, some good managers were passed over due to politics and the "blame game" perpetuated by a few, but I had bailed by then.. However, as long as one did not work in Glendora continuously, it was nice. I didn't care for the economy class air travel, but that was really minor. The annual sales meeting was a pain as was the Irrigation Show. 99% of the time I was happy with the job and RBI was not a penny pinching firm when considering travel expenses.

Cons

Sales targets were not likely to be met anytime & the biggest downside was little or no control over prices in the field. Israelis were very aggressive about keeping business and would not stop at a little thing like ethics, so it was difficult to make the sales.

Advice to Senior Management

Use long term view when crafting strategy and ignore current sales signals, they are simply distortions of the long view.

Pros

My experience is different then many posted here. I thought the company had many nice perks and a number of training options. As long as you worked hard you seemed to get ahead.

Cons

The company is fairly large. Some people may not be able to handle the levels of management and the number of approvals that were required to complete projects.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to communicate to your managers. They are the keys to getting the work done each year.

Pros

you become involved in the irrigation industry. the product is rewarding and improves the lifestyle of people by improving the use of water. People are typically friendly and willing to help

Cons

forced ranking system is a morale reducer. the fear of being ranked low in compared to your peers is always present. The culture that is preached is almost cult like in nature and this creates a stagnation in innovation and slow product development improvement.

Advice to Senior Management

think out of the box more often and take more risks

Pros

Co-workers in general are great people ---- lots of teamwork among the engineers.

Cons

All the reasons posted in other reviews are relevant here! "Accountability Without Authority" should be the company slogan. Employee empowerment is non-existent. The bonus structure is intentionally rigged to guarantee that an employee cannot meet their goals that would trigger actually receiving a bonus. Most of the manufacturing is done in Mexico, and engineers are expected to spend lots of time down at the plants there making sure that production is actually taking place. There is no such thing as a "Production Engineer" at Rain Bird ---- it is expected that a design engineer will manage the production team.

Advice to Senior Management

Feedback is futile ---- Senior Management is not interested in feedback. They are only interested in making sure they are not targeted for execution by Tony LaFetra.

Pros

- Great Salary
- There are always openings!
- You live in the land of harsh winters and job despair and want a way out
- No other choice- bad economy!
- There are always openings!
- You are a sadomasochist

Cons

There are so many that you should think twice before coming to work at Rain Bird.
- Poor benefits in comparison to others in the industry hiring similar high caliber employee
- Unrealistic expectations levied on the backs of understaffed job functions and overworked employees
- Subjective nature of feedback is always a moving target
- No one has empowerment other than Tony, only a false sense power
- Crazy penny pinching approach to the smallest items, i.e non reimbursement of .50 charge airline miles charges on rental cars, poor man's hotels, no corporate credit card - use your own for company business but no reimbursement of finance charges.
- Business operates as a cash cow commodity business but packages itself and a market leader
- Little to no concern as to employee job satisfaction, or empowerment.
- No formalized training programs, only a sink or swim concept with weighted boots.
- They tout they hire the brightest and best.... what they don' t tell you is most level with the first 2 years.
   Many superior individuals have walked through these doors and back out again.
- Highest rate of turmoil and turn over I have ever seen in 18 years of corporate experience estimate
  somewhere around 70% in less than 2 years.
- Company hides behind Rain Bird culture to explain away turn over, and poor treatment of employees. - No work life balance just work, little recognition, management focuses more on criticism and fault finding to motivate workers
- Work under constant pressure of not knowing if you'll get laid off, fired, demoted or you job will be moved to Mexico.
- No communication of vision from owner at the worker levels, divisions are encouraged to stove pipe information. C
- Cooperative resource leveraging and thought leadership between division is discouraged.
- Paranoid view of employees and information access many times getting in the way of your ability to perform you job functions, intently set on not letting anyone figure out the big picture.
- Constant turmoil of new folks coming and going, no systematic approaches to job functions, management unaware staff job requirements, driven more on senior bonus programs.
- Goals are not common among the group, cooperation is poor as everyone marching to different drummers.
- Company puts out org chart only to the senior staff everyone else is kept in the dark all is word of mouth, making coordinating the simplest tasks very difficult in a timely manner.
- Senior management and HR high turnover as well, come naively thinking they can make a difference and leave discouraged at the lack of empowerment to make change.
- Owner does not even use a computer, old school, admin prints out email, email responses are written out and admin puts it back in.
-Computer systems outdated, software packages cumbersome and dated, revision plans moving target

Advice to Senior Management

Lots of study on well managed companies.
Empowerment, Empowerment, Empowerment!
Invest in your employees as invaluable assets, appreciate there accomplishments, staff adequately!
Stop the constant negativity and criticism, encourage and empower calculated risk taking.
Delegate authority down the chain, stop the cons of silence and the subjectivity.
Make the Rain Bird Culture mean something other than an excuse for poor corporate behavior and mismanagement of employees.
Tony should communicate in open forums, take the time to listen while encouraging a non-retribution open and frank discussions.
If you hire the brains, the skills... the best and don't let them contribute to the levels they can it is a waste to hire at these levels. Consider your employees as stakeholders in the companies success!
PEOPLE Not Cattle, PEOPLE not inanimate objects, PEOPLE with much to give --LISTEN!
RAIN BIRD HAS POTENTIAL FOR GREATNESS, BUT NOT THE WILL.