Sunstar Group reviews

3.5

60% would recommend to a friend

(116 total reviews)

Hiroo Kaneda

59% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

Sunstar Group has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 116 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sunstar Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufactura industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

116 reviews
2.0
Sep 26, 2017

Systemic Dysfunction

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This job is great if you need a decent, steady paycheck. Work/Life balance is good. The working environment is a new facility in Schaumburg, IL that includes new furniture and equipment.

Cons

It's tough to recommend Sunstar for anyone looking into advancing their career. The workforce is grandfathered in and unwilling to make the changes necessary to attract a younger workforce, critically stunting the development of new ideas and innovation. This leads to a diminished morale because there is no real incentive to bring forth new ideas as one will quickly notice nothing will change unless certain people in management are moved. For example, with the new facility build in Schaumburg (after a move from Chicago), there was a chance to create a defined work from home policy to help offset the new commute. Nothing was created. I'm fairly sure it wasn't even considered. The technology was there, but the mindset was far behind. With a lack of morale and a dearth of innovation change is met with derision. Expect to see comfortable employees in contention with others who have advancement on their minds. The "comfortable" employees will almost always win as they have seniority, further diminishing the go-getters who want to grow. On the topic of go-getters there isn't much to actually "get" if you don't know the right people. There is also no real structure of advancement because career paths are not clearly defined. Favoritism is so rampant that HR had to step in and stop salary discrepancies in certain departments to "fix" what was becoming gross negligence. Sunstar also has a problem with its own lack of independence. Sunstar Americas is a subsidiary to a much larger worldwide company. This means the Americas branch is held to the whims of the overarching company in Switzerland. Policies are set at a global level and pushed downward, which doesn't always fit the American workplace. Finally, there's slow adoption of new technologies. There are a lot of custom technologies in play at Sunstar, and to their credit they are maintained relatively well with such a small staff. This is a double edge sword unfortunately as they are slow and unable to adopt a technology such as Salesforce or Exchange. Plus, opportunties to learn new technologies are few and far between. This also leads to employees who CANNOT be removed as there's no documentation to these older technologies. One good audit of the technology department would show major flaws. Change management? DevOps? Nope.

1.0
Apr 8, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This is a hard one. Let me think. They have some good products. Let me try harder. Trying.. My brain hurts. Can't think of anything else positive to say.

Cons

Where do I start. The company has a dysfunctional management team that does not inspire employees or set the vision. Their marketing group restructured in 2018, but only made things worst. They fired some good people and have a hard time getting/retaining good employees. There is a lack of positive culture and a lot of cynical employees. Interdepartmental conflicts exists at all levels, making it a tough place to work and get things done. Regulatory does not comply with procedures or the law, has been audited, and is at risk of getting the plant shut down. I don't recommend this company at all. Stay away! There are other places to work with far better cultures and management.

1.0
Feb 2, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked for Sunstar for 6 years. The people and connections I made are invaluable and the benefits are fair. Salary is a little lower than expected in the area but if I knew it would end the way it did, I would have ran far, far away. It's a shame you have to apply at least one star in a review on here.

Cons

I took a risk accepting the position, being promised I would be on a path of career success within the company. The company went through a restructure last year and many of my colleagues were let go or worse, they were demoted with changes in title and roles, many without their knowledge. The same thing happened to me. A year later, the restructuring continues and turnover is very high. Management expects everyone to be workhorses and has little appreciation for what employees do or their accomplishment. Job satisfaction is low. The good employees don’t seem to stay and are not very engaged, have burnout, or lost their passion. If you want to go back to high school, Sunstar is for you. If you want a broken promise and snobby management, Sunstar is setting the bar.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 116 Reviews

Glassdoor has 157 Sunstar Group reviews submitted anonymously by Sunstar Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sunstar Group is right for you.