Pros
Many changes at Hamsar since the buyout by Grakon, LLC, the much larger global manufacturer of lighting for the truck industry, and other customers like Tesla. Everyone now gets an opportunity for input through regular communication meetings with management. The new CEO, Dave Paborsky, even comes to town occasionally and meets with people on the shop floor without local management to make sure everything is going well. In the past raises were far and few between. Now there are performance reviews and everyone has a chance for a raise. New management has also added a bonus program. Everyone gets to see direction and profitability of the company in periodic all employee meetings, and based on how we do overall and individually we now get an annual bonus that we didn't have before. Benefits have improved too- new management added vision care this year. There have been several promotions in the past 8 months of people from the manufacturing floor both into management and into the front office. The company has an aggressive sales plan over the next five years and this is also shared with everyone. Several groups of people have had bench-marking trips to visit other offices in Seattle and to the plant in China. People are commenting about how good it feels to be connected to a larger organization. (Grakon.) Step by step, problems are getting solved, people are getting what they need to get the job done. We also had a great holiday party last year to celebrate a lot of the year's accomplishments. Note: The CEO is no longer Fred Kelly. The CEO of the parent is Dave Paborsky.
Cons
If you don't like accountability Hamsar may not be for you. There is a pace that can sometimes feel pretty intense that is necessary to meet all the targets. If you aren't used to working at a place where everyone counts, you may want to find an easier place to work. On the other hand, if you care, and you like participating in the success of the business, this is a great place to be.