Reliable, fulfilling work with excellent benefits and a fair wage. The experience is worth more than the wage.
Pros
The benefits, including health, dental, vision, retirement, nutrition and tuition reimbursement, are excellent for an employee making, after a few raises and two promotions, $30,000/yr. My position requires my attendance from eight to five, which leaves just enough time to go to school. Four years of experience in the field while balancing my bachelors is going to look great on a resume. Experience gained at Garmin will be valuable while climbing the ladder, rather it is within the company or elsewhere. Garmin routinely cherry picks from product and software support for more lucrative positions within the company. The company has provided numerous paths for development for its product and software support, promoting agents into help desk (Help desk members field calls exclusively from other agents requiring a more knowledgeable agent's assistance), training, and supervisory positions.
Cons
Working with the public always leaves something to be desired and while Garmin empowers its employees to be in control of a phone call or email, a cool temper is required for this line of work. A time card system that penalizes its employees for being late (after eight) by five seconds equally with someone who is fifteen minutes late is draconian and, since no management is subject to the same scrutiny, speaks volumes about their low level of respect for hourly employees. Being compensated for being early is not an option. These statistics count for a large portion of a shift-bid system. Having the hours an employee works change every six months, usually not knowing what will be available, is very frustrating. Hiring employees into a position with steady hours would greatly simplify the lives of the hourly employees. Finally, the wages are only good enough due to the excellent benefits listed above. It is obvious the company has difficulty finding talent for its product support with this compensation. As a benefit, this opens a window for enthusiastic, bright employees; they will stand out.
