Protolabs reviews

2.6

33% would recommend to a friend

(382 total reviews)

Suresh Krishna

37% approve of CEO

29% positive business outlook

Protolabs has an employee rating of 2.6 out of 5 stars, based on 382 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Protolabs employee rating is 25% below average for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

382 reviews
1.0
May 1, 2025

Self-serving at best

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Bare bones compensation keeps the lights on, I guess.

Cons

Wow. Where to start. People are leaving left and right after a blatant cash-grab compensation model was rolled out. Uncompetitive even if you hit targets, but bleeds you dry if you’re an ounce short. What was once a a friendly work culture has been stifled into oblivion by upper management, and weak managers who do nothing but relay ever-changing demands from their own managers. It’s a weak hierarchy with brown-nosing and politicking being rewarded. Some of the worst hires over the past 8 months I’ve seen in my professional career. Really goes to show that if you are a yes-man (or woman) you can really just weasel your way into any role. All your LinkedIn fluff is pretty embarrassing to anyone else looking at your resume, and you need to know that. Even when bluntly asked simple questions on glaring holes in the company, management gives non-answers and walks away with hopes that it won’t be brought up in a shareholder meeting. That’s all they care about, despite the stock price obviously reflecting the lack of confidence from shareholders. Oh, and if you speak out about being underpaid or the company being ineffective, you’re more likely to get fired than receive a response. The parallels to this company and the show Severance are terrifying and hilarious. There’s so much more from the unaddressed points of an employee survey to management saying they’d repaint the office walls (of the office they didn’t close…) to help build culture. Total disconnect from reality like you’d expect from a bunch of executives that haven’t spoken to their employees in months. They just keep writing their own salaries, so they’re fine with it.

1.0
Mar 31, 2018

Information Technology

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good people to work with and good benefits. Casual environment

Cons

Very little communication between groups, no leadership which causes chaos and struggles between groups.. With no leadership the plan changes constantly, what applies today may not apply tomorrow.. There has been 9 people leave IT in a little over the past year, out of a group of less than 20.

avatar
Protolabs Response
8y
Thank you for leaving a review. We appreciate when employees take time to share their perspectives and experiences . At Protolabs we are very protective of our culture, as one of openness and collaborative teams. It is a competitive advantage. So it is troubling to see comments suggesting we are not communicating and leading in a coordinated fashion. Although we have our share of chaos, our core values of Teamwork, Trust and Achievement allow us to execute on leading edge software development and IT technologies without competing with each other. We have great people at Protolabs and they do a remarkable job each day living our core values and delivering for our customers. Rich Baker Chief Technology Officer, CTO
1.0
Jan 20, 2026

Tough times ahead and lost trust

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pay was good. Remote flexibility was great and the team was great to work with.

Cons

Upper management is going a direction I just can't understand. It looks like they are trying to get people to quit so they can offshore more development. The problem being the software they developed is so coupled and complex I believe they are in for an incredibly painful road. Upper management seems to flat out ignore concerns from engineering. Picking cheap and fast over and over has dug a giant hole they want to ignore.

avatar
Protolabs Response
5mo
Thanks for the for the feedback! We look forward to hearing from you to discuss further. talentacquisition@protolabs.com.
Viewing 16 - 18 of 382 Reviews

Glassdoor has 423 Protolabs reviews submitted anonymously by Protolabs employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Protolabs is right for you.