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    Sharp Laboratories Reviews

    24 reviews

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    Full-time Part-time
    3.4
    Star Star Star Star Star
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    Doug Albreghts
    0 Ratings

    24 Employee Reviews

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    1. "Transitional stage company"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - California in Santa Ana, CA
      Current Employee - California in Santa Ana, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      Pros

      Good benefits, flexible work scheduling, excellent staff, and small company atmosphere. You can work on technology and see it in use by consumers quickly which is rewarding. People are diverse and support each other in good times and in tough times.

      Cons

      Sharp had a series of money losing years and didn't take action quickly enough leading to the takeover by Foxconn. They are pragmatic and want to restore Sharp brand and profitability but resulted in painful cuts to projects and staff. Those that remain however have good prospects with stronger funding and much larger worldwide operations. The ability of pivot to new products and markets is key.

      Advice to Management

      Take on good projects and staff fully. Rethink processes and incentives to encourage risk taking and rewards. Reduce meaningless work vestiges left over from the past to free up time for innovation.

    2. "Product Planning Manager"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Tualatin, OR
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Tualatin, OR

      I worked at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Great, talented and professional people

      Cons

      Not much room for new opportunities

    3. "Hon Hai takeover has ruined the place"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Equipment Engineer in Camas, WA
      Former Employee - Equipment Engineer in Camas, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook

      I worked at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Highly skilled and experienced team of individuals throughout the organization. Dedicated to delivering quality research and development across a wide variety of technical areas.

      Opportunity to create your own area of expertise and develop your own research.

      Cons

      Lack of clear and consistent direction from Parent organization. Recent takeover by Hon Hai is causing great stress and most folks are simply waiting for their severance package.

      Too bad because this place has great people and great resources.

      My low ratings reflect the present situation. I would not recommend this place my friend or even my enemies.

      Advice to Management

      You did your best to keep the organization alive. Forget about Hon Hai and SHARP and move on. That is what the rank and file wll do once we get terminated.

      4. Is this helpful? The community relies on everyone sharing – Add Anonymous Review

    4. "Somewhat stale environment, but there are some great people"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Camas, WA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Camas, WA
      Negative Outlook

      I have been working at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Good pay and benefits.
      A lot of great co-workers - work can be fun, not just work.
      Some incredibly smart people.

      Cons

      Environment feels a little stale.
      Lack of real leadership.
      Corporate management decision-making can leave you scratching your head.
      A lot of innovation that never goes anywhere (no link to product, projects worked on for years, then fizzle).

      Advice to Management

      Communicate to staff.
      Be "real".
      Actively manage projects and kill the ones that aren't going anywhere.
      Make the tough decisions, not just the easy ones.

    5. "Director New Business Development"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Camas, WA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Camas, WA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook

      I have been working at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Good people, company culture and ability to innovate

      Cons

      Limited opportunities for advancement, no great perks.

    6. "Summer Intern"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Intern in Vancouver, WA
      Former Employee - Intern in Vancouver, WA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook

      I worked at Sharp Laboratories (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Amazing technologies, great environment, friendly workers and devoted management.

      Cons

      I can't think of any cons. It was a wonderful experience and very valuable to my career.

    7. Helpful (1)

      "engineer"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Senior Engineer/Researcher in Camas, WA
      Former Employee - Senior Engineer/Researcher in Camas, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook

      Pros

      Small departments, many projects and research directions.

      Cons

      No career development for engineer. Engineer is disposable in second. Poor performance review system. Generally, your manager can write whatever he/she wants, including personal attack.

      Advice to Management

      The management system needs to be professional.

    8. Helpful (3)

      "This is a company only good fit for non-technical people"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Software Engineer in Santa Ana, CA
      Former Employee - Software Engineer in Santa Ana, CA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook

      I worked at Sharp Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      - Allow you to do research for solutions
      - Benefit is a little bit above average
      - Computer Hardware equipment is top of the line
      - Open Door Policy

      Cons

      - Management does not know technical even they say they know
      - the environment is easily to let people fool around since there aren't many technical engineers around to do code review or understand the problem that you are facing
      - Projects are funded by Japan. The financial concern from overall Sharp is real.
      - Expect to do overtime since they really want to make money fast

      Advice to Management

      This is for SLA @ Santa Ana

      - please support engineers who do the work
      - stop over promising to product owners in Japan
      - start hiring the right people to do the work
      - listen employee's suggestion and help to create better environment for them
      - create a team environment instead of creating hostile environment

    9. Helpful (1)

      "Interesting place to work, in tough times due to Sharp Corporation Financials"

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Senior Engineer/Researcher in Camas, WA
      Former Employee - Senior Engineer/Researcher in Camas, WA
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook

      I worked at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      R&D environment with highly intellectual co workers. Interesting and variable types of work depending on projects

      Cons

      Management is poor with poor oversight from above. Toxic individuals are allowed to make people miserable. Future is in question with parent company financials.

      Advice to Management

      Need to police the ranks for bad bosses. Need to be more strategic with projects with eye for funding and advancing proprietary technology

    10. "SLA provides a rich and rewarding career for self-starters and entrepreneurial people."

      Star Star Star Star Star
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Santa Ana, CA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Santa Ana, CA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook

      I have been working at Sharp Laboratories full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Large international company with diverse product lines. Seems to be run by engineers which is a delight to many. Sharp offers a constantly changing career for those willing to work for it.

      Cons

      Sharp is largely a hardware and manufacturing company that is making the needed transition to software and services which is a real challenge. The hierarchy is quite flat so if you are motivated by promotions rather than the work itself you might not like it.

      Advice to Management

      Resource development teams sufficiently when product concepts have high revenue potential with good margins to get out of commodity businesses like LCD.

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