HNI Reviews

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

Pros – 1. Exposure to a lot of different manufacturing processes - wood, laminate, steel, fiberglass, plastic etc
2. Get trained on structured design and development processes with good standard operating procedures (The documents and spreadsheets are there to follow, even if implementation is not always executed as per the prescribed process).
3. Large engineering groups to fall back on.
4. Big company, not too shabby resources for employees to really take charge and self-learn on things like lean manufacturing, Design for Manufacturability, Product Management etc.
5. Different brands, different price points. Can switch between different HNI OpCo's for quick exposure.

Cons – 1. Too much hierarchy.
2. Meet a lot of people who treat their positions as jobs, not careers.
3. Lot of incompetent people hired to top positions.
4. Company gives more relevance to communication skills and not level of education etc (For instance, they will consider an internal candidate who has a Bachelor's in General Studies for an Engineering or Product Management position, over a candidate who has a Bachelor's and Master's in Mechanical Engineering, more diversified experience for the same positions).
5. Very low starting salaries. Profit sharing is a joke.

Advice to freshers: Get a job here, work your behind off, learn all you can and leave. Do not plan on staying more than 2-3 yrs or you WILL get pigeonholed in your career.

Advice to Senior Management – Work on better ways to retain your engineering talent.

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

Former Employee – worked at HNI

Pros – Good company to work for

Cons – Lots of constant changes happening

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

Pros – Good benefits, lots of room for growth, beautiful office buildings, work can be interesting, good relationships with coworkers, ability to work with fellow professionals, can get exposure to international business and other sophisticated experiences.

Cons – The company is located in Muscatine, IA, where there is not much to do. The company does not respect a work-life balance and asks for a lot of hours out of its employees. The company is very short-term profit motivated.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HNI for more than 8 years

Pros – The company still is financially sound and still has a large market presence.

Cons – Too many acquisitions that fail. The company doesn't seem to know what to do with them except shut down facilities. High risk for you if HNI acquires your company. Two classes of employees; those in Muscatine who will keep their jobs if at all possible. If you're not in Muscatine, you are the first to go.

Advice to Senior Management – You need an actionable vision, not just general platitudes. Overhead costs are killing you; too many VP's and empires inside the company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

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

Pros – I've been here for 14 years and it's close to home

Cons – They are out sourcing their software development. I'm a software developer.

Advice to Senior Management – Care about your employees more.

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

Former Employee – worked at HNI

Pros – Good learning environment. Lean Kaizen

Cons – Hot environment, sometimes long hours

Advice to Senior Management – None

Current Employee – been working at HNI

Pros – HNI is a great place to work. There have been many opportunities for me to move up within the company and management is very good.

Cons – Pay could be better and location in Muscatine, Iowa is somewhat limiting , but overall a very good place to work.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HNI

Pros – The health benefits were very generous for families, not single young adults. After qualifying (2 years) for Cash Profit Sharing the company makes a generous match into members 401(k) accounts.

Cons – If you are starting your career with the company, do not expect guidance from management of what is expected of you, they assume you already know. There is a lack of support and communication between executives and mid-management and staff.

Advice to Senior Management – Stick to the basics on how HNI became successful. Give members in the company greater guidance along with transparency to how well the company truly is doing.

Former Employee – worked at HNI

Pros – While working in the IT Department I had great gratification that I was able to help other people with their everyday problems. The production personal and office personal were great to work with.

Cons – Very stressful at times but that was all part of the job. I believe some people were probably paid more then they were worth, based on job performance.

Advice to Senior Management – I have no complaints what so ever about my boss or supervisor. They were both great to work with and very good at listening and giving tips/advice on the job.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HNI

Pros – Great people to work with
good company direction and management
the laid back managers work on the floor for personal assistance

Cons – Fast paced, stressful at times
I got trained in many areas over a short period of time, then had high expectations
monotonous work over time
long days, early hours

Advice to Senior Management – I suggest training the employees slower, until mastery of a certain area, then continue to broaden as time goes on

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend