Terrible Company for Women and Engineers - Mechanical Engineer Gatan Employee Review

2.0
19 May 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are very few positives to working at Gatan. Free lunch once a month and bagels on Wednesdays are the only ones that come to mind.

Cons

Absolutely toxic work environment. On many occasions, I overheard upper management (directors, project managers, president) use expletives and yell at other employees. As a woman, I was often subjected to inappropriate jokes and sexual harassment (once was told to send a picture of myself to a vendor in order to get a product faster, also was once told that my backside was a better view while giving a design presentation - two of MANY unsolicited comments about my body). This was discussed with HR and no action was taken. I also had a coworker regularly ask me about my thoughts on religion and encouraged me to 'find Jesus'. The majority of employees at Gatan have a long tenure, so the misogyny and unprofessional behavior seems ingrained in the company's culture. On top of all of this, engineering is incredibly limited in resources: access to tools, lab space, drafting resources are difficult, if not impossible, to come by.

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Gatan Response
8y
Gatan, Inc. is committed to providing a safe, employee-friendly and harassment-free work environment. Harassment of any type is unacceptable. Gatan maintains and abides by its Anti-Harassment Policy. All reported claims and allegations are taken seriously, responded to promptly, and are subject to a thorough investigation. If an alleged incident, comment, behavior, activity and/or observation is brought to the attention of Gatan and determined to be true, Gatan will immediately initiate the corrective action process, up to and including termination of the offender(s). Gatan also provides regular training to its employees on the prevention of discrimination and harassment. Gatan is disappointed that the author of this post did not report his or her concerns to Human Resources, a member of management, or follow the reporting procedure as outlined in the Gatan Employee Handbook. If such a report was received, Gatan would have conducted a prompt investigation and would have addressed the situation with appropriate remedial action. However, as a result of this posting, Gatan is in process of conducting a full investigation into this matter. Gatan is committed to providing a safe, respectful and harassment-free work environment for all employees, as well as a simple and confidential means for reporting a concern. Should any employee of Gatan wish to report a concern, you are strongly encouraged to reach out to Human Resources and/or follow the additional reporting procedures set forth in the Gatan Employee Handbook (“Complaint Procedure,” Page 8).

Explore other reviews about Gatan

5.0
11 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great staff and tech, loved the people and the products

Cons

Didn’t love the office space and it was a bit siloed but nothing major

1.0
6 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The work can be interesting.

Cons

Abuse is tolerated if not encouraged. Culture is dominated by tenured employees who perceive new employees as threats and conspire to make you miserable. Everyone is somebody’s son. Nobody is anybody’s daughter to my knowledge. Sons play into the “us vs. them” mentality. You have either worked there forever or your father did or you are nobody. Tenured employees will bully and threaten you. Workplace violence is commonplace (REAL threats of violence not “silence is violence”) Management is in constant panic mode. First instinct is to panic, second instance is to blame. You can’t warn anybody about a problem, they will perceive it as a sleight. Then they will the insist you do something blatantly unethical to address the problem they created and you warned them about.

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