Great Company Values, Questionable Management Decisions - Manufacturing Engineer I Lam Research Employee Review

3.0
24 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Management strongly encourages personnel to follow Core Values. Lots of teamwork opportunities alongside independent workloads. Low end on the base salary, but good overall benefits package as a full-time employee. Supervisors are generally easy to get along with. Lots of great teammates across the org. Workdays are never boring, always lots of problems to solve and lots of work to complete with infinite opportunities for innovation, creativity, changes, and projects. Management typically cares about your work-life balance and encourages time off.

Cons

Not everyone follows the culture and Core Values, which becomes obvious when it starts impacting you and you see the hypocrisy. People who complain a lot or those who don't really do much of the actual work but talk about it as if they led everything are the ones that get promoted. Sell your work to your manager and complain about being overwhelmed to get noticed, otherwise you may be the one laid off during a down-turn. Management makes random questionable decisions not based on pure facts. BEWARE: In a down-turn, management may choose to keep questionable personnel that don't do much except complain over legit, hard-working, ethical individuals who are actually dedicated to their job. Sometimes management lies to your face to keep you motivated enough to stay while doing other things behind your back, so be careful around management promising full-time positions while you're a contractor and don't wait for promises to come true, apply for anything that becomes available asap. My advice: look for opportunities outside the dry manufacturing department. The business is currently in a significant down-ramp, given the situation with the semiconductor industry relations with China.

Explore other reviews about Lam Research

5.0
21 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great opportunities, pay, and benefits

Cons

Some employees suffer work/life balance

1.0
25 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Opportunities to support global activities

Cons

Heavy micromanagement — frequent revisions on ppt to minor details like font size and colors. Frequently calling staffs even after work hours and lunch time. Manager often takes on additional work from other teams without considering current team workload, So the manager appears supportive and “nice” externally but creates additional burden to the subordinates. Manager controls team budget strictly for team-building activities (events and meals), team members feel restrictive and reluctant to participate, for example team members dare not order appetizers, dessert or drinks on top of entrees during team events. Manager used up most of the travel budget. Biz trip and personal travel boundaries are unclear, especially when manager frequently has business trips overlaps with personal travel. Seems like manager using biz trip to get free hotel and free air tickets for PTO.

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