Avoid the Manufacturing Team - Manufacturing Technician Formlabs Employee Review

2.0
11 Aug 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

As people have said, it is a laid back, casual atmosphere. A good place to go straight out of college if you want to ease into the workforce or if you had a high intensity job and are looking to still work but somewhere more relaxed. Don't get caught up on the "free lunches," this is part of your compensation people, and you should view it as such. As most people have said as well, the overall pay is low and is increasingly creating an atmosphere of low moral. On multiple occasions now Management has made comments about salary reviews and things, but these have yet to happen. It is not uncommon for people to go 1-2 years without any sort of raise. And when you bring it up they just kick the can down the road. The most common excuse being “Max won’t approve a raise for you right now” (apparently the CEO has to sign off on all raises). Of late, it seems the only sure way to get a raise is to get a competing offer and be willing to leave.

Cons

Like any company or organization, the team you are on and your manager can have a huge impact on your experience, so I am writing this review focused on what's known as the Manufacturing Team. To date Formlabs has been successful, and this success seems to mask the poor management within the company, particularly on the Manufacturing Team. Head Management of the Manufacturing Team seem to think the success of the Team is due to good leadership, when in actuality it is in spite of poor leadership and due to good, competent employees who get things done and make up for Managements shortcomings. As long as the company and Team are successful, there seems to be a perception of having no need to change by management. When we had the engagement survey, the first thing said when presenting the results was to state a disbelief in the results (they were critical of management in manufacturing) and on comments that questioned the leadership style, with management openly stating not to expect any changes. Arrogance and indifference are not effective leadership styles. There is also no path forward or possibility of promotion within the organization. In your interview you will be told you can “take on as much as you want and work on any projects that interest you,” but this isn’t really the case. You will not be recognized for additional work or contributions, and the general company policy seems to be to hire people over current employees without telling them it’s happening. This is a place you go for a 1-year plan and then get out.

avatar
Formlabs Response
7y
Hello - thanks for sharing your detailed feedback here. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had such a negative experience working at Formlabs. You raise several issues that we are working hard to address. All of our employee feedback indicates that we need to focus on building up both managers and individual employees. We’ve made significant progress to instituting employee metric expectations and regularly recurring performance reviews to foster an environment of open feedback in both directions. In terms of compensation, Formlabs continues to include equity as a significant portion of the total compensation package we offer. This philosophy reflects our continued growth and our leaders’ outlook of Formlabs. It also allows for our employees to take ownership and pride in building Formlabs. Additionally, the manufacturing team salaries are regularly benchmarked by external company data and kept in line with the industry. --Caitlin, People Ops

Explore other reviews about Formlabs

5.0
7 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Get to work with smart and passionate people that care a lot about the company mission. Career opportunities are incredible for high performers.

Cons

Tough worklife balance & can be intense at times

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great products, friendly people. Supportive management. Good work life balance

Cons

minimal Holidays and "flexible" time off

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All