Company is a dreadful place to work - Anonymous employee KARL STORZ Employee Review

1.0
1 Mar 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company is very supportive of work life balance. Vacations are easily approved and the company encourages people to take them. The company also has great health insurance benefits and the base salaries are fair (no bonuses for anyone under manager however). Coworkers specifically individual contributors are pleasant to work with. Also, while the company doesn't allow workers to work from home full time, they are pretty generous in allowing workers to work from home if there is a good reason (such as taking care of children or waiting for the plumber). The El Segundo office is also really nice.

Cons

This company has the worst middle management I’ve ever encountered. I have not encountered a single competent middle manager here. They have no idea on how to manage and are woefully technologically deficient. Bullying is rampant here and from everyone I talked to, the managers don’t tell them anything. The only skill that the managers have is passing the buck and blaming others for their incompetence. Some of these managers are also protected since they are part of the old boy’s club and won’t be punished ever. None of these managers even try to grow or even try to improve their skills. There is no accountability at the company and the managers only care about one thing – looking good in front of upper management (specifically Sales and Marketing). Teams also operate in silos and do not help one another. The company is also too sales oriented and promotions are almost impossible unless you work in Sales and Marketing. Unless you work in those jobs and mainly sales since marketing is an afterthought, forget about having a challenging job or even growing. If you stay here, you will be far behind your peers in technology and skill. The training here is pathetic, and you will not grow here at all. What you do here in the first month is what you will be doing for the rest of your job. Also, the technology here is awful and I can’t even believe the company is competitive in this field. There is no CRM system and the SAP system is horrifically implemented. The company is trying to pursue data science/machine learning/analytics but their attempt is risible as one, no one in management understands analytics or has a clue what it’s about and two, the systems are pathetic and almost no data is collected out on the field. Morale here is also incredibly low and that has to do with the culture here. Managers don’t support their subordinates. Also, all the comments here about the lack of diversity (both racial and gender) in management is true. There are almost no African American managers here despite the large number of African American individual contributors. Overall, stay away if you want to maintain your sanity.

Explore other reviews about KARL STORZ

5.0
9 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits and company culture, frequent opportunities to interface with senior leaders and executives.

Cons

Roles and responsibilities are demanding, complex organization to understand, and requires in-office days if you are in proximity to a regional hub.

2.0
18 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Solid steady company, generally nice people and it can help people advance if they so choose.

Cons

Privately owned, so many decisions are made arbitrarily, not always having to be vetted properly. Globally, decisions would be made that would not be in the best interests of the US market. Also, if you're an internal employee, it could be difficult to be promoted/advance within the company. You get stuck with new duties, but no new titles/pay.

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