Toxic HR - Toxic culture - stay away - Engineer Philips Employee Review

1.0
Feb 6, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great brand, company and exciting strategy. Cross functional team members at Sonicare are generally very good, mostly everyone tries their best to team up despite being completely overworked.

Cons

The Sonicare business culture is laced with rumors and gossip about what talented and well liked colleague is quitting next, making it depressing and anxiety ridden. No one seems to want to stay, everyone wants to leave and actively searches for the right opportunity to get out. After you stay a couple years, anyone actually talented who values recognition and career growth leave because they know they can do better and not be constantly overworked. But, what I think makes it worst of all for employees is HR Leadership does not seem to actually like anyone and is by far the most toxic and untrustworthy of them all, which also seems to be highly linked to why all the good people leave. HR seems to continually get in way over their head, and can't seem to understand the business context or needs, frustrating everyone around them with very biased, uninformed opinions and forceful actions which aren’t effective and only leaves the employees worse off. While it appeared so very recognized and felt by the vast majority, it is somehow completely ignored by upper management, so the culture doesn't change, only just gets worse for the employees. It is shocking the destruction and disarray I saw caused by HR to the employees who are just trying to do good work, collaborate and grow the business, grow in their careers, on what seemed to be a weekly basis! Horrible to see so many employees treated so poorly by those who should be objective, promoting the removal of bias and prejudice from the workplace and that you should be able to lean on for help, career guidance and general support. Unless you want constant drama, stress, gossip, and your career to fall flat because of the major bias, seemingly reckless actions and negligence of HR, keep away for now - HR needs to change first. Hope Amsterdam chooses to actually address this massive issue for the team’s mental wellbeing and ultimately the company's success.

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Philips Response
5y
Hello, many thanks for taking the time to share your perspective. We deeply regret hearing that you experienced high work pressure and that you did not feel supported by the HR department. The experience you describe does not reflect the culture we strive to build at Philips and we would encourage you to contact the Philips Ethics line to enable the matter to be formally reviewed (https://bit.ly/3u70Lup). Furthermore, Philips Management is active on Glassdoor as well, so your review will be taken into account. We wish you all the best with your career.

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5.0
May 9, 2026
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Pros

Very cool company and pros

Cons

Nothing what I can think of

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Philips Response
1mo
Thank you for your review. It’s gratifying to know that you have such a good time in our company. We appreciate your contributions and wish you all the best.
2.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

The people in non- upper management roles that work there are fantastic. Great sense of community onsite and the culture champions are consistently looking for ways to make work life better.

Cons

Very poor communication on the strategy for the business unit. Leadership publicly promotes innovation and new ideas to be presented but then those ideas are shot down or penalized in private by current upper management. The business unit leadership says that don't want excuses for project delays but will then decide to do 3 major layoffs in the first two quarters with no transition plan, no support for gap in resources and no expectations to delayed progress.

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Philips Response
1d
Thanks for sharing your feedback and for your 7.5 years of service with us. It’s great to hear that you found a fantastic sense of community and culture onsite among your colleagues. We’re sorry to hear about your experience. Your perspective on management transparency and resource support is incredibly helpful, and we’re actively working to improve our ways of working. We appreciate your dedication over the years and your honest insights, which help us focus on building a better workplace. We wish you all the best in your future career.
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