Canon reviews

3.4

57% would recommend to a friend

(2,006 total reviews)
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Fujio Mitarai

71% approve of CEO

47% positive business outlook

Canon has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 2,006 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Canon 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

2K reviews
2.0
Aug 29, 2022

A dinosaur in the making

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Approachable / friendly people. Strong brand.

Cons

Since the entire top management has been around since the beginning with lack of impressive qualifications, they seem to be insecure and do not let their subordinates develop. Engage in politics to keep their job safe. No change at the top is also responsible for slow growth of the company, with no fresh ideas/strategy for growth. Same thoughts are repeated year on year in the annual meetings. Policies are outdated and are no real game changer. The new hires are below average and most employees find it difficult to move on from Canon due to lack of skill development, which is why average tenure is so high. Work life balance is good for most functions as no one wants to stretch beyond the normal routine work as increment and bonus is usually good for all. It is a very mediocre work environment.

3.0
Mar 21, 2022

Good people, badly run.

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Canon want to be a market leader. They have spent a long time succeeding in spite of themselves thanks to the brand heritage and quality of the products. Most people in the office are really nice to deal with, and teams support each other - marketing in particular is really friendly. Change does happen - very slowly but it happens - and there are good people doing a lot of work to push in the right direction. The work/life balance is generally good. Flexible working is the norm, Canon's policies on support, inclusion etc are all quite good. There were many good managers in my function (including mine) who really care about their teams and often work to support you.

Cons

The camera and printing worlds have changed massively in the last decade, but the people responsible for reporting that back to Japan have not. Worse still, many resent the modern world of content creators and vloggers, mixed shooting with phones etc and actively work against modernising how Canon sell their products. In tandem with Japan's risk aversion in marketing, this can lead to very frustrating experiences. The business is also very siloed. Collaboration happens, but it is very tribal, and there is a blame culture, despite there being no real consequences to getting anything wrong. Coupled with this there is very limited progression. For the right-face, right-time crowd it's good - but for others there is limited progression and next to no recognition for the work, and for the tolerance of staying at the role you are in for years on end. Budgets are small, and (although the pandemic is partially to blame for this) camaraderie and team building are things of the past. The company is also awful for the environment, but Corporate has begun greenwashing internally, unconvincingly. Massive murals of whales don't make up for the fact cameras and printing aren't good for the environment. Its "sustainability" department is a joke - a PR exercise with the loosest targets imaginable. In general, the corporate tier of the company seems very tribal, and out of touch with the people keeping it employed.

Viewing 445 - 447 of 2,006 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,833 Canon reviews submitted anonymously by Canon employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Canon is right for you.