Seagate Technology Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Salary and benefits package are competitive.
Vacation time is highly respected and seldom refused nor interrupted.
There is a high degree of respect among employees and managers.

Cons

There are fewer opportunities for those who are not educated, technical, and innovative.
The industry is one that is often vulnerable to highs and lows in the demand cycle, thus there are more regular layoffs than other industries.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer truthful feedback about the industry. Do not "sugar-coat" current conditions and performance. Reduce the length of all employee communications meetings.

Pros

Seagate has a very fast paced environment. General compensation is all right. People are very smart and easy to work together with.

Cons

There are very little career growth opportunities within Seagate. Overall working environment is depressing. New ideas are not given enough room to grow

Advice to Senior Management

Top management needs to give new ideas more room to prosper and not kill them prematurely.

Pros

Good healthy work environment at working level

Cons

Too much management involvement on day to day activities

Advice to Senior Management

Explore options to hire more people from outside drive industry to manage teams. This will give a different perspective on running things more efficiently.

Pros

It was my first job
Work is good.
Work life balance

Cons

Not many opportunity to grow.
Moving within company is difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is not open about people moving in different department or in personal development.
Conservative approach.

Pros

Seagate Technology provides as many challenges as you want. If you are interested in technical work or project management, there are plenty of opportunities.
They encourage physical fitness and group activities. Excellent culture overall. Everyone treats each other with respect and there are some of the smartest people I have worked with here.
The true strength of the workforce is in the contribution of ground level employees.

Cons

Executive management tends to be entrenched and out of touch, which can be frustrating to the workforce.
Very little opportunity for functional management. Most managers have been there a long time with no plans to move. This can lead to a restriction in getting fresh thinking into management.

Advice to Senior Management

Force managers to change roles more often.

Pros

Care for people
Very generous in pay and benefits - High pay
Cutting edge technology

Cons

It is highly specialized area of business - only disk drives
Get lazy...

Advice to Senior Management

More communications upfront and regular bonus

Pros

Individuals who are excellent to work with and get to know
Flexible schedule (For those who are not bound to working a specific shift)
Casual work environment

Cons

No rewards for exceeding expectations, everyone is treated the same. You will be treated the same as the worst person in your department.
There is no room for advancement, everyone is stagnant. There is absolutely nothing to aim for or look forward to. It doesn't matter how good you are or how big of difference you make. Everyone is constrained, held back, and equally diminished by the corporate executives and their socialist policies.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward your many excellent employees for their hard work and outstanding accomplishments. They deserve it! Stop treating everyone the same. Even the smallest positive gesture towards a well-deserving employee can go a long, long way. Seriously though, treat people fairly. People who deserve raises and rewards should get them. People who don't should not. We are not all equal. If we are, then there is no reason to be motivated. Stop blaming the macro economy and using it as justification for your poor treatment of the employees.

Pros

Flexible working environment and proper vacation time.

Cons

HDD technology is approaching to an end

Advice to Senior Management

There are too many meetings that are sometimes useless

Pros

Challenging technology in a fast-paced environment
There's never a shortage of fires that need to be put out.
Plenty of room for growth.

Cons

Work doesn't always get recognized within such a large company. It's up to you to make sure you are heard.
Yearly employee reviews often times don't make sense - they are rather subjective, and lack consistency across groups/departments.

Advice to Senior Management

Make more of an effort to recognize employees. Reduce silo efect between departments. Don't skimp on raises simply because there's an excuse to - in other words, take care of those that do the hard work.

Pros

Good focus on new technology. Work environment was challenging but not negative. Personnel were talented and committed to a good job.

Cons

Very cyclical industry--business has high peaks, low valleys and business can overreact. Competition between sites (to be expected) leads to some politics and frustration.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to keep the between site competition to a minimum to avoid a not invented here mentality. Don't overreact to short-term market changes at the expense of long-term viability.