Gibson Ranks Highly on a Worst Companies to Work For List

It would be so cool to just ditch your job as a corporate desk jockey or grunt laborer and instead work for a guitar company, right?  Well, maybe not.  Gibson is purportedly a hellish place to work due to the CEO.

Gibson has been a venerated guitar brand for many years.  I have played great Gibson guitars in the past, but I’ve never been able to own one.  My only real beef with them is that their prices are astronomical, so when I was playing electric guitar for a living, even if I wanted one, no way.   But frankly, I do like to see companies called out when they treat their employees like dirt.  Before the web, companies could happily keep all this secret.  And yes, obviously this is one side of the story, but the overwhelmingly negative reactions are pretty compelling to me.

By the way, it was fascinating that the company that famously breaks guitars has a ranking on Glass Door almost as bad as Gibson’s.  To enjoy some dirty details and get your daily dose of schadenfreude, check out this page at GlassDoor.com.   Or just enjoy some choice titles by people reviewing the company:

• “failure on all fronts”
• “sick culture that stifles the company”
• “Nero fiddles (or picks) while Rome burns”
• “Don’t think your experience will be different”
• “So much potential, but stuck in a stagnant state of fear and intimidation”
• “Corporate management exemplifies best efforts at mediocrity”
• “Just don’t work there unless you have no other choice, and even then, always be looking for any other job”
• “Worst Corporate Culture Ever…and That’s Being Kind”
• “Mommy Dearest? Oh, Just Gibson Guitar”
• “It would be the best place ever if HJ wasn’t there”
• “Get your Prozac ready”
• “STAY FAR AWAY FROM GIBSON!”
• “Run as fast as you can…in the opposite direction”
• “Only take a job here if you have nothing to lose”

And obviously someone will chime in and say, “my experience was fine”, or “these are all crybabies”, or “they should be happy they have any job” as if that should refute everything other people have said.  Uh huh.