Large, Old School Conservative but stable company - Materials Analyst PACCAR Employee Review

2.0
25 June 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Stability, Benefits (tuition reiumbursement, etc), Stock purchase plan. If you're just starting out and/or are ineterested in the Transportation industry, this is a good place to work. The PARTS divison specifically has many entry level opportunities across the pricing/marketing/operations spectrums. Also if you're experienced and seeking stability, flexible hours (warning: not days), solid benefits, or want to get your MBA from Seattle U or *maybe* UW, PACCAR is a good choice. ITD (tech division) is more laid back and has some scattered charismatic talent. Rumored to be one of the better places to work within PCAR. * For aspiring students: PACCAR will pay for education BUT there is a committment after you recieve your degree/certificatation.

Cons

Stagnant/conservative coroporate culture, big & slow to adapt to change, sub-competitive salary, glass ceiling for women. The company was created as and remains to this day a family-owned company. Piggot family holds a huge majority of shares and thus the chairman has a heavily vested interest in not screwing up. While this normally isn't a terrible thing, Mark Piggot is no Steve Jobs/Ballmer/Gates/Bezos/Schmidt/Walton/Buffett/etc. Upper management (especially CEO Piggot) is feared rather than respected. This chips away at morale, especially in high profile positions that answer to upper level suits. The silver lining is that for most entry/base level employees, exposure to these people is limited so if you're not particularly bothered by the culture of discontent, you can work blissfully unaware in your 1970's style cube. Another point of contention amongst employees is compensation. While HR claims to be "competitive", most people leaving the company generally receive 15-25% raises for similar jobs at competitors (Freightliner, Navistar, Boeing). While young, this might not seem a terrible loss considering that you have time to learn & build your resume. However, for middle-old ppl this could present a problem as you could find yourself paid less for work thats worth more. However, executive pay is higher than average (reportedly...still attempting to confirm this) so if you're experienced at the top levels, PCAR might be a good choice. Last topic: Old. Yes thats right, Paccar is old. Old school, old fashioned, old values, old people, even old cubicles. If you're thinking you'd like to work from home, think again. (some exceptions). If you'd like to work 4X10hrs, look elsewhere. Wear jeans to work? Nope. Access your Hotmail/Gmail/Comcast email acct. from work? Not a chance. YOUTUBE? Nope. All we do here is good honest work :-) Even the continuous improvement ideaology is old (Six Sigma). There are also alot of "old" employees, many of whom are "life-ers" who can't command equivalent salaries elsewhere because they lack a college degree, regardless of acheivements or intelligence. So if you're not so into "OLD", you might be better off seeking "new" pastures elsewhere.

Explore other reviews about PACCAR

5.0
30 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Wonderful internship experience. I truly enjoyed every aspect of the internship, from the people and team culture to the meaningful projects and great location. It was an incredibly positive learning experience, and I would highly recommend working there.

Cons

While the business professional dress code may not be for everyone, I personally didn’t mind it and felt it contributed to the professional environment.

1.0
15 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Not much, if you want a place that's okay with mediocrity, then welcome.

Cons

They blindly follow industry trends not industry standards. We have an initiative to use AI to increase productivity, without a proper plan, without security in mind and lack of general understanding. Consistently understaffed, for example there are teams or parts if teams that have max 4 developer type roles with 36 apps or APIs to support - this has lead to inconsistent code and effort as employees are spread too thin to be able to deliver quality work. Management refuses to take responsibility for issues that arise from being understaffed. Teams are not consistent in what tools and pipelines are used causing even more confusion and delays. Double standards: they don't want to properly promote or give raises to hard workers. Upper management made it clear to direct managers that "meets expectations" was a fine thing to give... To employees doing more than their fair share of work and are doing work outside of their role since they have no one else to do it do to being understaffed.

3
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