Blum reviews

4.0

74% would recommend to a friend

(64 total reviews)
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Shannon Lafferty

61% approve of CEO

69% positive business outlook

Blum has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 64 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Blum employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

64 reviews
3.0
Apr 22, 2016

Programmer/Analyst

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good, quality products. The company research & design team does an excellent job in innovation and product development. Company is very "engineering-centric". It is unusual in that it is a privately held world wide company so ideas and actions move smoothly. They pride their work environment by showcasing their products and their customer products.

Cons

Austrian ownership and most top management positions are held by German or Austrians. Even in IT, visions are very planned and strict; to the point if exceptions occur, progress halts until everything is re-analyzed. Austrian IT mgmt in the US seems impersonal and remote. Also, salary IT people have to clock in and out on the Kronos clocks. Compensation is probably 15-20% below market average.

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Blum Response
9y
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on your experiences. We appreciate you doing that and would ask that you keep a couple things in mind. Blum is a family owned business that is financially secure and able to make its own decisions. This allows us the freedom to spend as much time as is necessary to consider our strategic options before acting. 75% of top management positions at Blum US are held by Americans and we value the diverse perspectives that we get from this mixed management team. We understand that using a time clock to record work time is unusual for a salaried employee, but we have found that most have adapted to the process and don’t see it at as a significant burden. Keep in mind that in our system, time clocks record a salaried employee’s work hours and assist in capturing and calculating overtime hours worked. In addition to a base annual salary, we provide additional compensation for those overtime hours. We take the management of compensation plans very serious. Because of that, we maintain a subscription to a tool that provides us up to date and comprehensive salary guidance that helps us address the complex nature of that activity.
3.0
Jan 26, 2016

Designer

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

very flexible to work here

Cons

Do not have consistent income or hours

1.0
Jul 7, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of the people are very nice. The building is state-of-the-art beautiful. Three weeks vacation after 1 year (but you are strongly advised to take your vacation time during the plant shutdown which coincides with the two busiest and most expensive weeks of the year for vacation).

Cons

This is the saddest and weirdest place I have ever worked in my entire life. The marketing department has a notoriously high turnover rate and rightly so. While I worked in this department I received very little training and work was withheld from me for the first 18 months. I was bullied, lied to repeatedly, built up only to be knocked down, humiliated and manipulated by management and co-workers having affairs. There is virtually no praise, only criticism (the CEO is particularly fond of humiliating people in meetings). The place is like a morgue; filled with countless rules, red tape and endless meetings to schedule more meetings. You can survive as long as you fit it and keep your head down. DO NOT be original or creative or think outside of the box. There is only the Blum way, the Blum path. Think Stepford Wives meets Jerry Springer meets the BORG - resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. It is a Graphic Designer's worst nightmare...

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Blum Response
9y
Thank you for your feedback. Sorry you felt your experience was that big of a problem for you. We would like to add the following points for consideration; A good part of our workforce is made up of employees with 15, 20 even 30 years with the company. Our turnover rates are found to be below recommended industry standards. We have an open-door policy that is available to all employees and can be used without fear of retribution. Work environment is very informal and when you walk around the facility you see people joking, laughing and interactions are relaxed and informal. We have identified some issues within that team and they have been addressed. New team members were added over the last couple of years as a response to increased demand on the team. Anyone walking thru the Marketing department or our break areas will see that this group exhibits a high level of comradery. They hold frequent informal meetings or discussions on a variety of work related topics where information is exchanged and decisions are often made by consensus. Additionally, on most days this group can be seen eating lunch together. We admit that we have well established work processes that allow us to maintain continuity with corporate practices. They can seem different to new hires but few experience long term struggles fitting in and contributing.
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