Howden Group Reviews

3.5

59% would recommend to a friend

(280 total reviews)
avatar

Ross B. Shuster

68% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

Howden Group has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 280 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Howden Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

280 reviews
1.0
6 Dec 2018

Sales

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The Latin expression Pros & Cons has very little pros here, the current owners Colfax have managed to sell off all of Howden's assets and now they are selling the company, so much for the blind who could not see this coming. Quite funny actually, now that it is up for sale, who in their right mind would buy a company with no assets (perhaps another asset stripper?) My old Sales Director had a very apt euphemism for the American owners "quite simply they were dumb". Again this year Howden were badly in need of orders so they decided that they would only take orders with inflated margins (obviously to help Colfax buy another company and close Howden) and in the current climate this meant they got very few orders and at a time when they are trying to sell, What prospective purchaser would want to take on the idiots who have run this fine company into the ground, with strategy like this.

Cons

Where do I start, why would anyone want to join a company which has no future and where the current directors did not having enough gumption to stick up for what was once a very proud and prosperous company. The brand is fast becoming toxic because they have sold all the best manufacturing sites and tried to get the work done cheaply abroad.

2.0
6 Aug 2018

Continuous Decline

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good people who are passionate about the products, scope for career progression.

Cons

Constant re-structuring and routine redundancies. There is no time given for any changes to settle before more changes are made. Decreased morale overall as a result. Constant firefighting with projects.

1.0
9 Feb 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Immediate team around me is supportive.

Cons

Company appears to be following no strategy, if it is then it seems to change and is privileged information! Colfax is forcing initiatives on Howden that are not suited to Howden's products, markets, customers and nobody in Howden's Senior Management appears to push back on this. Colfax says jump, Howden asks "How High, Sir?"! Constant risk of redundancy as parent company, Colfax, puts the pressure on to cut costs. Those who remain are stretched too far, putting stress on employees to try to achieve more with a lot less. Recent pay rise (1%) is a complete insult to those working hard, while Senior Management enjoy six- and seven-figure salaries. Training and development is non-existent. Constant acquisitions means even more uncertainty surrounding the direction of the company and what it's setting out to do. Recent restructuring to regionalise the Business Units was announced at the end of 2015, yet very little has been agreed on how this will work in practice. This has caused in-fighting and means the customer is not the point of focus. It's almost laughable at how poorly this has been executed.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 280 Reviews

Glassdoor has 377 Howden Group reviews submitted anonymously by Howden Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Howden Group is right for you.