Tektronix Reviews

3.5

78% would recommend to a friend

(651 total reviews)
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Tami Newcombe

78% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Tektronix has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 651 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Tektronix 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

651 reviews
1.0
25 Oct 2019

A company in decline talking big while selling off its pieces

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you are a woman looking for a management position, this is a great place to work. When they laid off some of the older men in management, they were allegedly replaced with younger women (see Roberts vs Tektronix, Federal Case Number 3:18-cv-02087 in Oregon District Court). Another pro, if you don't like a VP for any reason, don't worry, because that VP will be gone soon to another Fortive OpCo. All of that said, pay is pretty competitive because they are having a hard time attracting talent.

Cons

The long game appears to be selling off Tektronix piece by piece, with Tektronix Communications being divested in 2015, and Tektronix Video going in 2019. After Danaher divested Tektronix to Fortive, new management was brought in to clean house. Employees above a certain age were either laid off or put on impossible performance improvement plans, forcing them to quit. Just a few months ago, those who hadn't been fired or scared into quitting were offered money to quit in the form of early retirement. Even younger employees took the package. The RF product group has withered on the vine, and performance oscilloscopes is facing a similar fate. Senior management rotates in fresh from business school or other Fortive OpCos, completely changes the company strategy, and then leaves for a different Fortive OpCo before that new strategy can be implemented. It is impossible to build performance products with 6-12 month strategic horizons. No project can get approved that takes longer than 12 months, and those that do get approved get canceled when the inevitable VP changes. The attitude there is dreary and dismal as befits a company in long, slow, but apparently profitable decline. They have dozens of unfilled jobs on their website because they have become toxic in their own industry.

1.0
4 Jan 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Free parking, 401k matching, Starbucks on campus, global enterprise business, access to other OpCos. They encourage people to look at career opportunities in other OpCo's in the Danaher network. Lots of opportunity to move around within the network.

Cons

Wow. Where do I start. I survived another annual November layoff. Yay for me. Danaher (now Fortive) is like The Capitol in the Hunger Games. They are flush with money, and live a completely different experience compared to their OpCos. Tektronix is like District 12. There is no free coffee. The buildings are old and full of depressing gray cubicles. No art on the walls, no color anywhere. People in critical positions work sweatshop hours with no work/life balance. There is a layoff every November. You will lose people in your group, work load will increase, expectations will increase. All windows are blocked by the cubicles for Directors and above, so the rest of the citizens of District 12 never see the light of day. Promotions seem to be random. There are people in management positions who have no experience in whatever type of business unit they are managing. Everything at Danaher companies is done to the standards of the Toyota just-in-time methodologies. These were meant for a manufacturing floor, but Danaher requires every division to use them. This results in budget whiplash all year long. No way to plan for anything. There is an army of people who do nothing but travel around the world to teach and enforce the DBS (Danaher Business System) principles. It is creepy and cult-like. People spend more time reporting on the past than they do working in the present and planning for the future. The amount of reporting, and the focus on nothing but metrics is mind boggling. There are these people called "Danaher MBAs" who are treated like royalty. They are valued above everyone else, and the rules don't seem to apply to them. The healthcare sucks. It's United Healthcare, which many providers won't even accept because their reputation is so bad. You get one choice and it's UHC. Horrible. Due to the just-in-time mentality and the fact that budgets are always tight there will be no shiny new laptop ready for you on your first day. You will have to use an ancient laptop that belonged to someone who got laid off recently. It will barely function because it's so old. You may get a functional laptop after a month or so.

2.0
19 Oct 2019

A Once Great Company, No Longer...

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent pay, flexible hours, campus is nice but maintenance is slipping and looking a bit dumpy in places.

Cons

First, some of the reviews here are bogus. It's so obvious that someone, probably someone from HR is posting positive reviews to make Tektronix look good. These aren't fooling anyone. I worked for Tektronix for several years and I can tell you Fortive has ruined Tektronix. They will not invest and build growth but simply want to squeeze as much profit out of it before they close the doors.

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Glassdoor has 748 Tektronix reviews submitted anonymously by Tektronix employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Tektronix is right for you.