The salary is higher but total compensation is lower because bonuses and raises are minimal or non-existent and promotions are sparse because they rarely promote from within. The salary may sound good at first... until you do the math. This is an intentional cost savings measure. Additionally, the job requisition is intentionally misleading. People think they will do great things at Rain Bird then find out that they aren't getting a raise and their bonus is laughable because they didn't meet the ridiculous milestones intentionally placed at unachievable levels. This happens year over year.
A class action lawsuit should be filed against Rain Bird based on several claims. 1) A typical employee chooses to move their family to Tucson based on a job description that is intentionally misrepresented. 2) They are told that they will make $100,000 (nice round example) and are told that they will receive up to a X% performance based bonus along with an annual raise. 3). They are told that they will be fully compensated for their move.
The hypothetical past or present employee has suffered damages due to Rain Bird's intentional misrepresentations.
- Uprooted entire family and move to a different state
- Reimbursement is taxable. If an employee spends $30,000 to make the move, they will be reimbursed $20,000. They are left with $10,000 in unpaid reimbursements.
- Receives 0-30% bonus. $7,000-$10,000 less than anticipated, annually for the person making $100,000 with 10% bonus. Bonus % varies but it's never paid anywhere near 100%, by design.
- Doesn't obtain a raise after the first year. First and only raise is 1-2% during the first year. After 5 years with another company, that person would make ~$15,000+ more per year. This would be more if there was a promotion.
- Employee not happy that they are only working on quality projects and morale is very low. Emplyee not able to successfully break the rain Bird laws, instead, they break themselves against the Rain Bird laws in an attempt to make positive change. Employee is miserable and the light dims.
Damages over 5 years include uprooting family, $10,000 in lost move related reimbursements, ~$45,000 in lost bonuses (10% for 4 years + 5% for 1 year), ~$45,000 in lost raises ($3k + $6k + $9k + $12k + $15k), and damages related to intentionally misleading prospective employees based on the job requisition (I.e. stuck in a career sucking the life from their existence).
Monetary damages for this past or present employee (not including other damages) is $100,000. For 1,000 past and present employees, this would cost the company $100 Million.
Working Here Will Set Your Career Back 5-10 Years and You Will Regret it almost Instantly. They pay slightly higher salaries but pay little to no bonus and raise after the first year. Total annual compensation at Rain Bird will be the same or less with respect to your last non-Rain Bird job. This is how they trick people to move to Tucson with their families without paying more than any other company (total compensation). It's deceptive, intentional, and they do it to almost everyone as a cost savings measure.
Rain Bird regularly engages in unethical and deceptive practices to trick unsuspecting candidates to join the company. Watch out for these top deceptive practices:
1. Total Compensation Deception - They pay slightly better salaries than other companies, but they actively have a cost cutting metric to minimize the bonus and raise of their employees. They do this by creating unattainable goals and by instructing employees to come down hard on other employees during the annual review. Employees are encouraged to give their employees a bad review and are often instructed what to include in the review.
Rain Bird's efforts are effective; as a result, many top talented people are told that they suck and that they deserve little or no raise and bonus. Total Compensation is typically comparable to what they received at their previous job. After a few years, the skills that got people hired become dull and they make less than their present self if they worked at a different company. Employees are not happy about the multi-year flat raise and bonus scheme used as a cost cutting strategy. Neither was I during my tenure at Rain Bird.
2. Job Requisition Deception - Rain Bird job requisitions looks great. However, they are an intentional misrepresentation of the job. New hires are usually frustrated after joining the company because they joined under the false pretense that they would not primarily work on quality and cost reduction projects (mostly quality). During an interview, the company employees may go into detail about the heavy imbalance towards quality projects, if asked. They will explain that the imbalance towards quality projects is temporary and that they expect that it will change in the months to come (it won't).
During the interview, they will likely express their desire to find someone that can move into a new role through succession planning. They may even throw out a time-frame such as "6 months" to begin moving into the new role. None of it is true. It is all a ploy to get great people to leave their jobs, city, extended families, friends, schools, and life to move their families to dusty old Tucson. It is deceptive and people should be aware.
3. Full Relocation Reimbursement - What they don't tell you is that relocation reimbursement is considered taxable income by Rain Bird. If a new employee spends $30,000 to move to Tucson with their family, they will reimburse $20,000. This is buried in their employment agreement but they never bring it up. This is unethical and leaves many people fuming.
4. Dismissal of Glassdoor Reviews - They will never simply tell candidates that the company culture is the worst they ever experienced and morale is very low for almost all employees. They will not tell you that the candidate is walking into a systemic trap intentionally set by Rain Bird.
Senior level employees are not competent. They are always pressured to follow the rules of the dictatorship from above. They don't really get to lead and are concerned that they will lose their jobs. They are told exactly what to do and to whom. They are constantly experiencing a blend of pressure and fear. They don't develop and mentor their direct reports. They worry that their direct reports will outshine them. People get fired for outshining their boss or boss's boss. That's part of the Rain Bird culture and it has happened on a few occasions. Lastly, I've never seen an employee recover from being blacklisted by management. Top employees abandon the employee and their remaining time is brief before they are fired. There is only one possible outcome, by design.
5. Everyone gets 2 weeks' vacation. After 5 years, people get 3 weeks. Employees work on many holidays other companies have off. This isn't really deceptive but the holiday schedule is rarely brought up. The hiring managers typically disclose vacation during the interview process but don't bring up the holiday schedule.
Some prospective candidates will be convinced that their experience will be different from the people behind the hundreds of negative Glassdoor reviews. For those people, here's what they can expect when working at Rain Bird.
1. Your passion and excitement will dim.
2. Your skills will dull and you will spend 90-100% of your time working on quality projects.
3. Your boss will tell you that you suck at marketing/engineering/sales/quality.
4. Expect a horrible company culture and very low morale. This will eventually impact you, if you don't leave.
5. Work your butt off and your boss will focus on what you did wrong. This is part of their strategy.
6. You'll probably only work on quality projects and some cost reduction projects throughout your entire career at Rain Bird.
7. Your boss will not be supportive of you. He/she will be pressured and will transcend that pressure onto you. Accomplishments are never rewarded and your boss will try and use your weaknesses (real or perceived) against you during the review. They will never help develop your genuine weaknesses. They have a metric to track how often a boss puts people into corrective action. Bosses are expected to use corrective actions which is a metric used against them if they do not comply.
9. No one will change the culture and low employee morale. Many have tried. Either, people dim and stay or they leave after being set back 5-10 years in their career.
10. You will learn what not to do at your next employer.
11. Everyone focuses on quality projects and are demoralized. The owner is obsessed with quality way beyond the point of diminishing returns. He probably doesn't want to risk his cash flow situation and will therefore, not change the status quo.
12. You may bring up concerns on multiple occasions, however, nothing will change. This is guaranteed.
If you choose to join Rain Bird and ignore this review along with the hundreds of other reviews (i.e. warnings)... then good luck, you will need it.
