Real Management & HR Practices Are Not Equal to What You Hear - Software Engineer Garmin Employee Review

1.0
Jun 11, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Give good benefits Used to have a good reputation

Cons

-- Talented and good employees are leaving because they are not managed/lead correctly. Yet, instead of acknowledging that, management constantly choose to blame those who leave. -- Conservative means not progressive, not open to new ideas/innovation, no employee development, training, low salary and increase, will not spend for anything even for things to support the success of projects/employees. -- Declining performance causes management to be more desperate and strict, yet normally management do not provide clear goals or vision. Therefore, project leads are often under many pressure and often punished for things that are not necessarily their mistakes. -- Many employees are unhappy, yet upper managements continue to keep their current style and process that continue to loose employees' trust and loyalty. -- Servant leadership is what was shared in many of the company's PR, but the real practices of HR and management do not project that at all. -- Organizational structure change constantly, and whenever this happens new management/leader of an area tends to promote people based on subjective reasons (instead of people's real contribution)

Explore other reviews about Garmin

5.0
May 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work/life balance. Top pay if you're a top performer.

Cons

Can get boring with little opportunity to learn new things.

3.0
Apr 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits and work life balance. It's a good culture and I've never worked at a place where your immediate peers are this helpful and pleasant to work with, even across teams and offices. If you want to just come in and do just what is required for your job and go home with the knowledge you have a stable job, this is the perfect place to work. I'd only recommend working here if you just want a job, but don't care about a career.

Cons

There is poor career advancement, especially if you aren't male. Leadership does not care about leading people. The RTO has made working here less appealing. The excuse that you can't collaborate unless you are in the same building makes no sense when you work with people in 6 different countries. It is about control and appearances, all due to incredibly poor senior leadership strategies. The pay is also low and so is the quality of the software you work on. Leadership likes to talk quality, but they like fast and cheap. They will not support you in actual software quality nor implement changes to improve it. The same issues happen over and over without improvement.

8
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