Re: MUSIC Group Reviews - Unhappy Staff
Dear all,
Thank you for your comments related to Glassdoor. Please allow me to respond to your questions:
First, it is important to understand what Glassdoor really is. It is a site where:
- Anyone can post anonymously without any content verification or consequences
- One person can post as many posts as he/she wants
- Anyone can pretend to be an employee when in fact they have never worked for the company. The post from the alleged “SVP from Manchester” is a good example as it's clearly fake.
- It is a convenient tool often used to disparage competitors
Second, I absolutely believe that there are genuine people out there who posted and shared their criticism about me and the Company. Provided posts are legitimate, I have no problems with it as people are entitled to speak freely. As the founder and CEO I will always stand up and take responsibility.
I want to make it clear that I don’t post on Glassdoor myself as frankly, I have more important things to do. However, I feel saddened to learn that people who want to share a more balanced view get attacked through emails that circulate among employees. Not very cool.
Third, I am the first to admit that I am certainly not perfect nor is our organisation. However, I take some pride, that in only 25 years we have built one of the largest Pro Audio companies in the world. We are an extremely dynamic and fast moving company (and definitely not for the fainthearted), employing 3,500 fantastic people located in multiple offices around the world.
My management style is to have very high expectations for myself and my staff. At times this can put management and staff under a great deal of strain and I'm aware that some people criticize me for this mindset. However, others enjoy this fast pace environment, as it allows them to be part of a winning team that fundamentally changes the industry.
I always tell our employees that we are a “High Level Start Up” and “We’re flying the plane while we’re still building it”. I truly stand behind these metaphors. Over the past three years we have acquired and integrated two major companies. We are currently building a 3 million square foot, highly automated factory at a total investment of US $100 million. We’re also implementing over 30 SAP modules to completely automate all business processes, including deploying the cutting-edge SAP Hana in-memory computing technology. On top of this, we’re currently hiring over 100 people as we’re expanding strongly. Last but not least, we’re considering another acquisition.
Continuously streamlining our overall operation to become more efficient means that from time to time we have to close offices and lay off people. I fully understand that this means potential hardship and difficulties for people and their families. While I don’t ask for any sympathy, please understand that restructuring a company is necessary in order to remain competitive and secure the future for our remaining employees. As the CEO, I take full responsibility and if people are upset, their anger should be addressed in my direction rather than against colleagues.
I also get at times criticized for our email communication system, which uses DL’s or Distribution Lists rather than personal name email addresses. Addressing emails to a person's function rather than their individual name ensures we maintain continuity of communication regardless of whether you are promoted or transferred to other roles. It achieves a sustainable communication infrastructure among our 3,500 multinational employees who work all over the world.
While I accept that this system is not the norm, it is critical when building automated communication and workflow processes.
Our Company is different and frankly we want to be different. While we are far from being perfect, we have a very clear vision and a strong determination to become the global leader in the Pro Audio industry.
I am particularly proud of our long-serving employees and the high staff-retention in our established offices - many employees have stayed with us for 20 years. I admit that this isn't the case across the board and that other offices have experienced higher staff turnover, in particular those related to acquisition and integration.
Over the years we have transformed MUSIC Group to become a true technology leader with the X32 having become the world’s most successful digital console. Last year's revenue was our highest on record and we started this year by launching 140 new products and winning 6 major industry awards at NAMM. I am extremely proud of our employees and also like to thank all those people who no longer work with us for all their tremendous contributions.
I will be travelling to our China Partner Event next week to host 400 Dealers and Distributors who are flying in from all over the world to celebrate the Company's 25th anniversary, together with our 3,000 employees.
We've experienced tremendous change over those 25 years, but believe me when I say the coming years will be even more exciting as we will be rolling out absolutely incredible products!
Last but not least, rather than listening to my words, perhaps I can recommend you listen to our current employees. We continue to build our cutting-edge Professional Division and are currently hiring over 20 more Pro Audio experts in the disciplines pre and post sales as well as system solutions.
Why don’t you visit
www.music-group.com to see the job opportunities. If any of these positions interests you, please feel free to contact
[email protected] (Sales Professional Global) and speak with Shawn Watts or Greg McLagan. You may also want to ask them to share their opinions about working at MUSIC Group and the cultural differences they've encountered since joining from the reputable competitor QSC.
Thank you for reading this long post and apologies for disrupting the X32 thread.
Warm regards
Uli
P.S. I hear the demand that I fire the CEO. Frankly, I can't fire him because I'm pretty sure that he is unemployable.
