- The main corporate building is built like a bomb shelter. Flat, ugly concrete, very few windows. You can go full days here without seeing the sun or knowing the weather unless you have time to go outside. Further, the building is packed WAY too full so it's extremely loud with little personal office space.
- Hach's parent company, Danaher, has it's own talent placement program. They feed from 4-5 of the top business schools in the country. Regardless of schooling and experience, If you're not in this program, it is extremely hard to move up in the company past a certain mid-level point.
- Compensation is average at best for all but those in the aforementioned talent placement program. Stock options and bonuses that are actually meaningful don't occur until you hit a relatively senior management level.
- Danaher in general strives to be lean and this means there are not enough resources (human / budgetary) to really excel and get ahead of the rest of the industry. Most departments are strained to get basic goals done, much less do something truly innovative in the marketplace.
- As is the case with many large organizations, bureaucracy is rampant. Getting projects approved and even basic items approved usually takes more signatures than you knew existed. This bureaucracy unfortunately flows into all facets of the business.
The bottom line is this is a good company to get some solid experience at, but you'll likely want to take your learning and experience elsewhere in the long run. Hach does some things well, and many things poorly. Unfortunately, they're one of the larger employers in Northern Colorado and they know it. They do little to compete for employees by improving work environment, compensation, benefits, and job mobility simply because they don't have to. This causes relatively high turnover of the "good" employees that can afford to get jobs elsewhere in the area or along the front range.
