Unbelievably conservative, top-down management, employees live in fear - Senior Engineer PACCAR Employee Review

1.0
Feb 20, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Paccar is a very financially stable company, and has made a profit every year for decades on end.

Cons

Extremely top-down management, a CEO who all employees literally live in fear of (including top management under him), mediocre pay, horrendously old-school policies and culture. For example, this week at Kenworth (where I work, a division of Paccar), a no-facial-hair policy was suddenly enacted- employees with facial hair were told on Wednesday upon arrival at work that they had until 9 am to go home and shave, or not come back (take vacation or leave without pay). Despite people at every level of Kenworth management and HR stating that they knew this would cost them valuable employees and employee morale, they all felt their hands were tied since the decision had come from Mark Piggot due to his personal dislike of facial hair. Many employees were affected by this, including two who were within 2 weeks of retirement after 40+ years with the company. Paccar values money over all else, and finds myriad ways to demonstrate how completely valueless individual employees are to them. You're just a number, and you can be replaced. As long as they make a profit, that's all that matters- and that comes often at the expense of project budgets, raises, perks, training, etc.

Explore other reviews about PACCAR

5.0
May 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wonderful internship experience. I truly enjoyed every aspect of the internship, from the people and team culture to the meaningful projects and great location. It was an incredibly positive learning experience, and I would highly recommend working there.

Cons

While the business professional dress code may not be for everyone, I personally didn’t mind it and felt it contributed to the professional environment.

1.0
Apr 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Not much, if you want a place that's okay with mediocrity, then welcome.

Cons

They blindly follow industry trends not industry standards. We have an initiative to use AI to increase productivity, without a proper plan, without security in mind and lack of general understanding. Consistently understaffed, for example there are teams or parts if teams that have max 4 developer type roles with 36 apps or APIs to support - this has lead to inconsistent code and effort as employees are spread too thin to be able to deliver quality work. Management refuses to take responsibility for issues that arise from being understaffed. Teams are not consistent in what tools and pipelines are used causing even more confusion and delays. Double standards: they don't want to properly promote or give raises to hard workers. Upper management made it clear to direct managers that "meets expectations" was a fine thing to give... To employees doing more than their fair share of work and are doing work outside of their role since they have no one else to do it do to being understaffed.

3
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