Panasonic reviews

1. The most immature engineering department that I have ever met in my life, filled with engineering managers who just fight with each other and develop contradicting technologies. Everything is a turf war, and they develop middle layers just for the sake of developing middle layers to control each other. Most engineering managers (except a few), are not technical enough / have the balls to facilitate technologies debates. 2. I guess this is not just the engineering department. All departments don't communicate with each other and hate each other. Sometimes the managers hate each other so much, they teach their team members to hate the members of the other team. So you are "guilty by association", when it's absolutely critical that the teams work together. In the end, the customer and the business suffers because of these turf wars. 3. The sad thing is that, I realized that if these managers actually communicate properly with each other, they will find that their interests are actually aligned. Poor communication creates false assumptions with results in unproductive hate of each other. 4. Management culture is toxic where favoritism trumps reasoning. 5. The are so many questionable hires at key positions, that results in the rare good employees feel like a "slap in the face". 6. Ok, so if you are not experienced, I would still respect you if you are willing to learn from mistakes and willing to change. However, that is not the case, there seems to be no intention to change the practice. And managers just crosses their fingers, closes their eyes, procrastinate on the problem, and hope that the problems will go away. A key example is that managers are absolutely adamant about sticking to the "process", when they themselves believe that the "process is broken / not sufficient". They why don't you do something about it?

As of posting this review, the average company rating on Glassdoor is 3.3. Panasonic Avionics is rated 2.6, almost an entire point lower putting the company in the bottom percentile Speaks for itself. Positive reviews are vague one-liners contrast that with negative reviews that are specific critique’s and paragraphs long. This dichotomy is an accurate reflection of the company’s culture. Some in comfortable positions are oblivious of market factors, customer complaints, and toxic culture. Those trying to effect change have to move over, around, or work harder to make up for those hanging out and getting paid. The result, frustration drives top talent out effecting a complete talent drain. If you are hoping to grow or work on challenging but rewarding projects look elsewhere. Business leaders are stuck in time warp regarding public demand for aviation connectivity. They still call their systems IFE [Inflight Entertainment] a reference to the hardware they sell, when hardware is becoming obsolete. Before applying to this company, I recommend you check out their “offerings” page found at Panasonic.aero/our-offerings/ Airlines who are projected to take 10+ years to regain the passage volume they had in Feb 2020 are either removing these products, pulling services back in the house, or eliminating them in hopes of surviving. The passenger’s connectivity expectation in 10 years will look completely different from that of today. Panasonic Avionics business model was not to invest in R&D or innovated their offerings but to doubled down on customization, offering thousands of variations on the same product to blend in with the customers' cabin color schemes. This plethora of choice which captured a lion share of the market in the ’90s is the overhead turned millstone around their neck of today. Case and point even before COVID Panasonic Avionics had several rounds of layoffs in 2019 pre pandemic. Post pandemic their customers are fighting to meet payroll. For several years to come IFE will be nowhere in the budget discussion. The lack of innovation can be seen at all levels of the business. The perks offered, the evaluation process, promotion opportunities, the lack of training, and the leadership styles of managers. All stuck in a 1990’s mindset. Case in point up until 2019 the company had contractors on assignment for years at a time. The coworker I sat next to had been on contract for 5+ years before he was downsized at the last layoff. Shocked Panasonic Avionics hasn’t been sued. Can you say class action? Panasonic Avionics is a subsidiary of Panasonic and whole owned, meaning employees are not eligible for stock. Compensation is made up primarily of one’s base salary with a small yearly bonus that is derived on the profitability of the company as a whole. Not an individual’s contribution. Let me explain why this is a horrific situation should you join the company in hopes of growing your career. The compensation model uncouples performance and accountability at all levels of the business. Leaders are incentivized to maintain the statues vs investing in innovating for the future. And innovate is what Panasonic Avionics needed to do over the last 15 years to survive. This breeds a culture of apathy. Leadership coupled with company prospects are so bad I’m dusting off my resume and am in a full job search during the COVID lockdown. Time to get off the sinking ship. Or to put it in aviation terms, grab a parachute this company is in free fall.