Samsung Semiconductor Reviews

Pros

The benefits are very good. For the most part it is a very stable company. Once you stop worrying about the things that cant be changed the stress level lowers dramatically.

Cons

The dual culture is a huge downside. Others know key details before I do because of the culture difference. This will never change. Instead of being up front about what is wanted it is given in bits and pieces. The Koreans think as if all information is top secret and the American workers can not be trusted with.

Advice to Senior Management

If we are to be on top when the economy crisis ends, you need to start listening more to the American employees. We really do know what we are talking about. Or at least most of us do.

Pros

The benefits were definitely a big plus, but even they were cut back and the bonus goals were adjusted to be completely unachievable by the current operating capacity of the fabs. The location was very good, Austin was a great city with a wide variety of attractions and entertainment.

Cons

Upper management is almost entirely Korean with no representation of women or other minorities. The Korean work ethic and culture is not entirely compatible with the American work ethic and culture. The company sought out ex-military personnel, but were intimidated by any kind of strong negativity, especially from women. The company manipulated reviews to prevent having to declare lay-offs (over a hundred people received 'bad' reviews and were fired) and many people were told not to seek unemployment and were told to sign a contract that they would not seek legal counsel or go to the media. All in all, the pay was very good, the hours were very long, middle level technicians frequently took credit for the work of younger technicians and portrayed those technicians in a negative light with management, and you could expect to not be appreciated or promoted for at least 5 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire some diverse, American Senior Management. Remember where your workers are from, respect your workers culture and work ethic (the American work ethic is very strong, we get the work done and expect to go home, not get the work done then do 8 more hours of busy work). Listen to what your workers are saying, stop trying to get the work of 4 technicians from a single technician.

Pros

Reasonable salary compensation. Very competitive benefits package. Job security .... as long as your salary range doesn't get too high.

Cons

Career growth is completely time-based and rarely geared towards actual performance. Previous in industry experience means nothing. Management focus is underwhelming and the politicking is highly demotivating. Message from HR department is "we don't care about talent ... we just want robots who will serve their time."

Advice to Senior Management

Fight for the people that you value ... or expect all of your talent to leave.

Pros

The Company offers a great and competitive benefits package.
Benefits not only include Medical/Dental/Vision but a 50% subsidized cafeteria, free lunches (at times), a full Gym (memberships if not a local employee).
The Company is stable and has been around a long time.
Samsung is very diverisified and will be able to recover quicker from the economic conditions.
The company tries to emphasize GWP (Great Work Place) by having employees become part of teams to show community involvement.
The company has a flexible work schedule.
The company allows telecommuting for some positions and other positions are allowed part time telecommuting.

Cons

The company is Highly cultural - Koreans do not respect Americans.
Internal Communication is very limited - Koreans always find out what is happening first. Sometimes the Americans and other cultures are made aware of issues before they happen. It makes for very difficult working conditions always trying to put out fires instead of being proactive.
The company expects employees to be available 24/7 - regardless of whether the individual is salaried or hourly. They don't want to pay for the overtime of the Salaried individuals yet expect them to work until a project is completed.
A lot of processes are unethical yet they continue because it is easier and they believe in it.

Advice to Senior Management

To treat all employees fairly - regarless of Ethnicity.

Pros

The pay and benefits is very competitive compared to similar companies. The USA fab is located in Austin, TX which is a very nice place to live and raise a family

Cons

You are expected to work long hours with no added benefit. Management is not very clear as to what the priorities are for the company and it's employees. There is a high level of under the table bargaining when it comes to getting projects approved. The HR department is not handled very well. The overall feeling of the work environment is very negative. The manufacturing group is very uncooperative with the engineering group.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep a close eye on how individual unit parts are being managed and step in to make necessary changes when needed.

Pros

Lots of work in a young fab provides excellent raining opportunities. Some groups are very flexible with members, giving lots of leeway in how your job is performed as long as results are good. The company has previously been very employee focused, although that started to decrease when Fab 2 opened and has all but vanished as of late 2008. Health insurance is still great, the time off accumulation is decent, although you lose any unused time off when the year ends. The large variety of jobs in the company ensure that you can find a role that fits you well.

Cons

Working with the members from HQ from Korea can produce friction, with American management and Korean management both senior and lower having different plans and ideas.
Samsung was formerly considered one of the best places in Austin to work in semiconductor, but with the recent layoffs (combined with a production increase-less people and more work) and benefit reductions, we are now on par with or worse than many other Austin tech companies.
The promotion system for technicians has been recently changed, so that Techs can expect to work as a low level tech for many years before ever getting promoted, and promotion percentages are determined by HR, not by job performance or skill level.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember that it is high quality people who made Fab2 the most successful line in Samsung. If you continue to let HR run amok, you will drive off the same people who made that happen.

Pros

-Comprehensive benefits package.
-Competitive pay.
-Community-oriented company.
-Attempts to prevent layoffs to the best of their ability.
-Numerous company hosted family events.

Cons

-Korean-American relationship can be tenuous at times.
-High attrition rate of young Engineers.
-Annual review system needs to be revamped. Recent revamp is insulting.
-Management is not always forthright with information. As a result, HR ends up the "bad guy" in many minds.
-Warm fab.

Advice to Senior Management

Respect your employees.

Be up front and honest with all news as it pertains to your employees. If there must be layoffs, say so. Give employees time to prepare for what may come.

If the annual review system is up for a revamp, let your employees know well in advance. Not as they're performing self-evaluations.

Don't allow young salaried employees to be scheduled to work 60 hours a week and be expected to cover necessary overages as well. That kind of schedule would burn anyone out. It's not a wonder entry-level Engineer attrition is so high.

Pros

Generally good pay, had good benefits until they got cut at the end of 2008 due to the economic downturn. People take on responsibility very quickly and you will rapidly become an expert in whatever area you work. If you have the drive and determination for it, there are opportunities to rise quickly through the organization. Co-workers are mostly hardworking & dedicated individuals. Most groups within the company are fairly tight-knit and often people eat lunch together and / or hang out after work together or on weekends. The CORP program brings in engineering graduates straight from college and keeps the company young. They also promote from within wherever possible.

Cons

Long work hours for any exempt (salaried) employee. Typical work week is 50-60hrs/wk, more if you have a ton of responsibilities or if whatever process, layer, system, equipment or area you work on goes haywire. Management used to be fairly transparent and open (sharing presentations from all-manager and executive meetings, intranet website to ask anonymous questions and receive feed back, etc) but since mid-late 2008 that has all but disappeared. Lately people have been getting laid off here and there across the company, but there has been no official word on what the overall plan is for the organization, when the layoffs might be "complete" or what the vision is for 2009.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't keep people in the dark - be honest and up front. People will hear things through the grape vine and rumors spread like wildfire, you might as well cut them off and be direct about what's going on.

Pros

The company offers competitive medical, dental, and vision insurance. Just recently however, they cut back on a lot of nice perks like free holiday meals, paid time off usage, shift premiums, tuition reimbursement, cash for quarterly awards, etc. I've gone for a while feeling like there was fairly good job security (which is nice considering semiconductor is such a cyclical industry) until recent times. Next level managment in my area seems alright with weekly meetings, but as we go up the chain, executive leadership seems uninformed, unapproachable, and indecisive. Overall, an okay place to work for, but as with everything else, there can be improvement in anything.

Cons

There seems to be too many name. Communication from all levels of management has been sparse and even non-existent, especially during difficult times such as these. Current cost cutting measures are taking place which affects headcount. It's hard for employees to swallow because reductions are being couched as "performance management" and not as layoffs. This type of "performance management" doesn't seem fair because throughout the year ,only 10% of employees were to be deemed as improvement needed and then towards the end of last year when it became more critical to reduce costs, they all of a sudden say that that percentage must be doubled. Then, they take that 20% and use that pool of people to make reductions.

Advice to Senior Management

Talk to people, make your presence and stance known. Don't let people have to decipher their environment and their futures.

Pros

Fast paced, Lots of responsibility quickly, O.K benefits (recently cut - they were pretty good), Cutting Edge Tech,
Work days are rarely repeats of each other. You will become experienced in a very broad range of topics.

Great coworkers. Everybody there is proud to work hard for Samsung. Most are work hard / play hard kinds of people. If you do not fit this mold, enter at your own risk.

Cons

If you are an Engineer you will work long hours. Really long hours... Even if it happens to be calm that week. 55 hrs would be normal +/- depending on the situation. If there are big problems, bring a pillow. HR's basic statement is no more than 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, 60 hrs per week : Unless the situation calls for it. (which could mean anything)

Mandatory % coverage during "company holidays" regardless of shift. PTO is difficult to schedule (varies from dept. to dept.). Everything is an extremely important deadline which will require you to come early and stay late regardless of actual content. You will be on call nights / weekends / holidays and expected to respond to any situation and be ready to report on it the next morning. Work Life Balance and GWP is preached but clearly not a priority.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce the less-than-important directives so people can focus on whats important and then go home to see their families.