Company enduring serious decline and constant change. - Anonymous employee Imation Employee Review

2.0
Nov 11, 2009
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation and benefits are good. Paid time off is good and taking that time is encouraged by human resources, if not necessarily by your direct manager. Many of the employees are very easy to work with.

Cons

The company grew on a strong portfolio of recordable media (CDs, DVDs, magnetic tape, etc). Today, that business is rapidly declining. They are trying to mitigate their losses and please shareholders by moving into consumer electronics. Over the past few years Imation has acquired several brands with an eye toward becoming a brand management company in the CE space. The problem is that with few exceptions no one in the organization has any idea how to run a CE company. This is prevalent throughout as sales, product development, and logistics have struggled mightily to transition to the breakneck speed of CE from the media which moves much more slowly. They have hired a lot of marketing staff to effect change, but with the other departments being ill-equipped that has had no effect. The net result is that there is a lot of planning taking place, but none of it is resulting in improved sales as the company continues to lose shelf space and market share in CE. There are frequent organizational changes at the executive level which is creating turmoil. One day the executive in charge will hire an upper level manager to run a division of the company. That manager in turn restructures his area of responsibility and performs layoffs within the department. Three months later that executive will no longer be in charge, and the process will repeat itself. The discretion with which changes are made also leaves a lot to be desired. The company posts job openings for positions that are currently occupied, and/or "eliminates" a position only to post that same position on the company site and other hiring sites. Many of the employees are just waiting for their name to come up on the next list of "eliminated" positions.

Explore other reviews about Imation

5.0
Aug 4, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Super supportive team Great training Caring Manager

Cons

Pay was a bit low

2.0
May 9, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company pays well, the benefits are great, and I believe who are still there sincerely want Imation to be a successful company. Of all the companies that I have worked for, I would consider this group to be the most ethical group that I have had the privilege of calling co-workers.

Cons

The company made its mark with businesses that no longer relevant, such as recordable CDs, TDK boomboxes, flash drives, etc. Unfortunately for the company those market (if they are even relevant) are commodity markets, which aren't driven by quality or features, and price points and margins have dropped dramatically. This has led to the current situation where there are good people who had past success, but they are now needing to reinvent themselves. So the company is caught between investing in dying businesses that still bring in some $$$, and gambling on buying existing business that are having moderate success, and hoping they can ramp that moderate success into massive success. I am reminded of Hugh Grant's character in the movie "Music and Lyrics". Which may sound sad, but the film did have a happy ending, so perhaps the team at Imation will have another hit.

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