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Harbor Freight Tools

Engaged Employer

Company culture is merely Okay, opportunity for advancement is bleak, pay is weak - reconsider your options - Choose Not to Disclose Harbor Freight Tools Employee Review

2.0
Oct 26, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The employee discount is great; The company is extremely family oriented. From your first day you feel like family (this applies to the outcasts as well, lol). The benefits are slightly better than ‘okay’ but other companies profiting in the same margins offer better benefit packages. Still, the benefits package is pretty decent; Most of the employees are great people with great ideas and great attitudes. The company has never stopped growing.

Cons

Everything written below is based solely on the corporate environment – not the store environment. With that said, this is a retail company – therefore, a retail attitude and mindset. This company profits in sickening amounts. I won’t disclose the profit margin but it’s one that totally merits the disgruntled attitude being expressed below. All of the things below can be changed. If there were someone in charge that actually cared about making that change. This explains the excessively low Morale. The company could very easily take 1% of one sixth of the company’s profit and change the above statement. For numbers: that’s 1/100th of 1/6th … divide the profit by 6, divide that result by 100 and the remaining number could be divided by 1000 to change things. But honestly, the financial abuse doesn’t extend to all 1k corporate employees – only about 250 to 400 are really on the lower end so you could even divide that number by 50% again and still achieve the same goal. Just like family life - if you're not a favorite in the family, you'll get nowhere within the family. When considering accepting that job-offer you've just been given, look at the industry standard pay offered for that title - I guarantee you it will be either on the low spectrum or just below it. Make no mistake about it – that’s how it will stay. Only the Directors and above get paid industry standard or better, everyone else is barely making enough to survive let alone stay equal with the industry average. Everything you do is micro-managed – standards are high and the rewards are subpar. There are no training programs and people act like you’re stupid if you don’t know how to do something the HFT way – even when no one has taken the time to show you ‘the HFT way’. Upper management preaches there will be advancement opportunities - but they never surface & when they do surface, unless they like you, you're not getting the opportunity. Total favoritism atmosphere. You hear people talk about the bonuses they get, but you never get one. No will will ever tell you "who" is qualified for a bonus, the managers pretend they don't exist. You take an engagement survey every year - every year the same issues are noted on the survey - every year the same "nothing" is done to rectify the issues.

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Harbor Freight Tools Response
5y
Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed feedback with us. At Harbor Freight, we value people above all else. Our goal is to be a great place to work and that means learning as we grow and improving every step of the way. We offer competitive pay rates, but each position will range depending on role, location, and other factors. Harbor Freight believes in paying for performance and rewarding our associates generously for the time, effort, and skill invested in collaborating together to build a great place to work. We will share your comments with the appropriate HR team. If you have any additional questions or concerns we encourage you to reach out to your HR Partner, HR Hotline at (800) 693-8377, or please email me at culture@harborfreight.com to discuss your concerns. We are glad to have you on the team and appreciate all that you do!

Explore other reviews about Harbor Freight Tools

5.0
Apr 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing company to work for they do care about your feedback!

Cons

Hitting the goals they have set for you can be challenging most of the time!

4.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits, fast paced environment, good teamwork. I liked the hours, you get an education about tools, whether from your coworkers or the customers. And speaking of the customers, they were on the better side for retail. Most are down to earth and easy to converse with.

Cons

Supply chain issues, many parts would never be replenished, despite being featured, advertised, and on display. That would often lead to tensions with customers. Aggressive time constraints on tasks. Sidewalk sales, holidays, and also coincidentally inclement weather days, can be quite busy and therefore stressful. Especially if there's call outs, but if you have a good management team, you'll have good staff that will want to work for them.

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