Hager Reviews

This is the worst company I’ve ever worked for. I truly don’t even know where to start. I was asked to perform my subordinate’s annual review after only three months of employment. Upon her review, I realized she was being compensated at the same rate that I was. I brought this to the attention of my supervisor, who acted as though it was an inconvenience to fairly raise my rate. The bickering and lack of collaboration between departments is flabbergasting. It takes ages to get anything done. Beware of massive, unqualified egos from the product department. I never had the tools necessary to perform basic functions. I often had to purchase things at my own expense or use items from my home. I had to beg for months for a PC that would run software that was essential to my job. My personal cell number was given out and I was constantly interrupted. I had to beg for a cell to use for business purposes after finding that several people under my level of seniority had company phones. I was expected to lead marketing operations, but received so much pushback from the sales and product teams when attempting to get information. I had my hand slapped several times for not sending product releases on products that I never even knew existed. Vacation time is adequate, but if you’re at a management level, expect to be interrupted regularly. I often worked well past 5pm on business days, and on weekends and holidays. My supervisor did absolutely nothing when I brought this to his attention on several occasions. He allowed me to hire temp office workers that were totally unqualified for the work needing to be done. He felt it was my failure to do my job because these people couldn’t be trained quickly to work with complex systems and perform graphic design duties, of which they’d never been exposed to. I was given a massive catalog project that had very little chance of success due to a lack of product management interaction and resources (no photos, conflicting product information, a nightmare of a database to work from). My supervisor was wholly inept at offering resources or assistance, and I was left to my own devices. This supervisor rarely held his product management team accountable. We would get product information to release to the public, and would often have to send out retractions because the information given was incorrect. It was always implied that my team was to blame for not double checking, which is ludicrous — we were in marketing, the other team was product development. Not at all parallel. Changes were sent constantly and often the 11th hour, which forced more work onto my shoulders. I worked through Thanksgiving and Christmas to get a price book organized in time for release. All of this had to be done manually, line by line, because “that’s the way they’ve always done it.” I worked to implement a PIM/DAM/CMS into the company to bridge gaps between engineering, product development, sales, and marketing — something they’d never had before. This was to help them to eventually move to an e-commerce platform, which they didn’t have. And boy, was that a nightmare. My supervisor insisted that I not involve other departments too early because it’d cause a situation of “too many cooks in the kitchen.” But when things became complicated (as I repeatedly expressed would happen), all fingers were pointed in my direction. I was totally thrown under the bus because of his lack of leadership skills and ineptitude. I was expected to take on the tasks of at least three parties, and my supervisor did absolutely nothing to advocate for me. I brought this to the attention of the Hager leadership who were surprised (which blew me away, because my supervisor noted that they told him that they didn’t have the budget to get any help for me) and insisted that he allow me to hire a “professional.” What did he do instead? Hire a part-time temp, fresh out of college. They had to hire three folks to replace me. I’ve witnessed these folks force so many out of the company — many of which devoted decades of their lives in service. It was astonishing. When I offered my two weeks, my supervisor became petty and childish. He would send messages to me through my subordinate, which was entirely unfair for her. This made completing my final projects a nightmare. He forced me to stay for an extra day because he didn’t tell HR about my departure until a day after he was notified. While working that final day, my access was cut off mid-day without warning. There was no consideration for my time whatsoever — it was truly just a petty slap in the face. Truly, I was overqualified for this position and I knew that going in. I thought that the advancement opportunities promised to me would follow through and that I could form a skilled department. Yet instead, I was manipulated and taken advantage of. I was praised behind closed doors for my dedication, but I was never adequately compensated, nor were my achievements recognized beyond my supervisor’s office. The stress from this position caused mounds of harm to my health and mental well-being. Steer clear of this company — they’re definitely not about family as they claim to be. They’ll chew you up and spit you right out.

Everyone who can leave or retire is doing so. Almost all the top staff has quit or been fired for BS reasons. It's a failed restructuring as the new generation of Hager kids took over. Terrible location in MO across the street from a port-o-potty plant, it smells.