Garmin Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Shorts and t-shirts are common in the summer, environment is very casual. The people are generally great to work with. My immediate manager (and many of the other team leads) were fantastic. Health insurance benefit is great for a family, but I was single when I worked there.

Cons – Salaries are far sub-par and there is little in the way of bonuses. Sometimes engineers spend months on end working long hours and never see a bonus while the company rakes in huge profits and gives huge dividends to investors. The promotion system (Engineer I, Engineer II) is a joke, there is no clear definition of how to advance.

Advice to Senior Management – A bonus or at least some tangible recognition (extra days off?) for employees that go the extra mile would go a long way. When I left the company there was a general feel that the upper management did not appreciate the work of those at the lowest level.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Garmin full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Exposure to projects from inception, room to explore a lot. Project analyst role very broad, you can do as much or as little as you want! Lots of initiatives for employees health, fitness.

Cons – Management not very versatile. Promotions difficult, you need to be part of "the" lunch group. Newly promoted team leads very petty and inexperienced with employee times.

Advice to Senior Management – Give everyone a fair chance. Change with changing times, allow more WFH, be more understanding and don't be petty with employee timings.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Neat products to work on.
Not a lot of pressure.

Cons – Leadership training is practically non-existent for new managers, resulting in morale drop among employees.
Revers age discrimination in promotions.

Advice to Senior Management – Invest in employee leadership training prior to promotion.
Install professional development programs for engineers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Really good health benefits for pre 2013 hires. Conservative culture. Loyal to employees and will go long way to assist employees that need help. Looking for ways to improve morale. Offers good educational benefits.

Cons – The job opportunities once inside are limited because the size of the company. Engineering driven company has innovation in roots but that restricts inputs from other disciplines.

Advice to Senior Management – Embrace risk at all levels of the organization. The associates are going to get the company to the next level if you work with them.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Monday through Friday schedule.
Excellent health benefits.
Great coworkers.
No pressure to rush customers off the phone.
No script to use for calls.

Cons – Few opportunities to do anything besides work at the call center once you start there.
Very small annual pay increase.
Low hourly pay.
Sasquatch and a Garmin bonus have something in common.
Repetitive tasks (Day mostly consists of coaching older people on how to use a computer).
A lot of time is wasted looking for devices at your coworkers cubicles (Employees are only issued a few devices)
Hold times often get very long and make customers irritable by the time they speak with you.

Advice to Senior Management – Increase the pay and respect for Product Support Reps. Provide career opportunities so that Product Support can be a launching pad at Garmin and not a dead end road. Find positive things to recognize employees for.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The best thing about Garmin is the generally friendly attitude among the employees. Managers and employees are eager to share knowledge across teams. It's not uncommon to have face-to-face discussions with the other people working on a project. There's a definite focus on problem-solving and creating better products. Company provided benefits are acceptable, and other amenities such as on-site gym are a plus.

Cons – The leadership among management seems hit or miss. Some are very interested in the well-being of their team, good at communication, or have a vision for products, while others are lacking. This has created confusion or frustration among employees about projects ("What are we doing? Why are we doing this?"). Sometimes management seems isolated, or lacks "big picture" thinking.

Advice to Senior Management – Open up to employees in general: become more inclusive, communicate strategies and goals, and ask for constructive feedback more often.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Garmin part-time for more than a year

Pros – Nice experience, nice expose, Just nice.

Cons – Underpay, overload of work load

Advice to Senior Management – Take care more to the freelancer, should have better arrangement

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Garmin as an intern

Pros – It's a young company that has been very successful. Everyone is nice and takes the time to help you out. Very fitness oriented and wants you to experience and know the products you work on. A very broad range of products you can work on. Nice perks.

Cons – Health benefits are specifically for spouses of the opposite sex only and not for common-law wed spouses. There are no LGBT groups or activities mentioned, and based in Kansas, there is no state protection against being fired for sexual orientation.

Advice to Senior Management – Extend health benefits to same-sex partners and make it a company policy to not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good benefits, some good people

Cons – The entire company is reactive not proactive.

Advice to Senior Management – Let the business people run the company not the engineers

Current Employee – been working at Garmin full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The benefits package is great; one of the best I've ever had.

Cons – - The product support division carries a virtual life sentence. Very few people get to move out of the department or get meaningful promotions.
- Moral is almost nonexistent.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen! The employees convey the thoughts and opinions of the customers. When you ignore the employees, you are effectively ignoring the customers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend