Mazda North American Operations Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – They offer Flex time and a Wellness benefit.

Cons – Very poor management out of Irvine.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't tell your employees they have a job and then a month later offer everybody a buyout package. Better planning on important decisions might be a good idea.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Irvine has very nice weather.

Cons – MNAO's senior management has struggled for 10 years to manage this US operation.

Advice to Senior Management – Mazda Motor Corporation (MC) needs to better understand the US operation and put a team in place with the experience required. MNAO has lost senior managers to Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, and Toyota all of which were experienced enough to run the company. MNAO has relinquished responsibility for Mazda Canada and is selling its headquarters property in Irvine, CA and plans to lease a building in Costa Mesa, CA near its advertising agency. This should hopefully lower its continuing losses in 2013.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great company with lots of potential. Take control of your future because no one at Mazda no anywhere else will. Learn the business and either get happy being bored or use it as a spring board for your future.

Cons – Everyone is out for themselves and with the exception of a rare few none of the management has an interest in development of their team members.

Advice to Senior Management – Reset, refresh, restart.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -great car benefits
-conveniently located
-friendly environment

Cons – -no training for new employees
-HR department is more of a hinderance than a help
-old building
-not enough parking

Advice to Senior Management – Give employees chance to review their managers to identify poor leadership within the company.

– I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Mazda is a growth company and have a good future

Cons – you can enjoy your work here

Advice to Senior Management – More iprovement to penetrate market

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Mazda North American Operations

Pros – Employees can make a difference if they get involved. Good place for self motivated people. If you need detail management then go elsewhere. Decisions are not caught up in red tape. Things move quickly. IT group really gets things done.

Cons – Employee development is lacking. HR needs to work on helping employees. Staff reductions are not helping morale - workloads are not reduced at the same rate. Several key business executive positions are now filled by Japanese staff.

Advice to Senior Management – Eliminate areas not key to operations to reduce work.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Mazda North American Operations full-time

Pros – Fun, friendly workplace with people that are passionate about the brand. Great benefits. Zoom Zoom spirit is real and exists there.

Cons – Layoffs and reorganizations every 2-3 years. HR functions to punish and hinder operations, not help.

Advice to Senior Management – Mazda is not a Japanese version of BMW despite what Mazda Japan thinks. Since the US is where all the current profits are, focus efforts to help Mazda US, not force layoffs and buyouts.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Mazda North American Operations full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – For the most part, there are a lot of good people at Mazda.
The products are good.
The company car benefits are a plus!

Cons – The culture, by far, is the biggest negative of the company. It's cronyism at it's worst and I agree with a previous post that it's "who you know", not "what you know".
Overall, the leadership at the company is very weak and becasuse people are promoted based on "friends and relationships", the real talent within the organization doesn't get promoted. That's why such a high percentage of people took the recent voluntary buy out package.

Advice to Senior Management – Promote based on talent and who's most deserving. By continuing to promote managers that do not demonstrate leadership, you are erroding the morale and overall talent base of the company. Institue a 360 of all managers....find out what's really going on within the organization and take your heads out of the sand!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Mazda North American Operations full-time

Pros – Winter shut down for a week.
Vehicle allowance includes lease of vehicle, registration and maintenance.
Weekends off.

Cons – No offense to the janitors but they can do a better job than many of the managers and executives at Mazda.
Horrible HR department > does not promote employee development opportunities.
Everyone is about covering their own behinds, you can't trust anyone here.

Advice to Senior Management – Use your head and grow some.

Current Employee – been working at Mazda North American Operations

Pros – Great Benifits, Family to work - 8 and out

Cons – Zero Training. HR is in California and does not participate AT ALL in Flat Rock unless they have to.

Advice to Senior Management – Engage more with the employees and try not to be so arrogant