Throughout the past several years this company has continually reduced the compensation and benefits of it's employees. A few years ago they even cut our modest $45K-$50K base salaries by $6500.00 which were already far below what our competitors were offering their sales representatives. Medtronic did this under the pretense that it was to help cover the 2.3% device industry tax ObamaCare was imposing upon our industry. Yet, they have spent far less money successfully lobbying to delay paying any of this tax. Upper management took the same percentage cut at the time, but underhandedly reinstated their own salaries 6 months later as was referenced in our annual report. Senior leadership is making more money year after year and they are constantly telling us how the company is thriving while the field continues to make less and they neglect to funnel any of the profits back towards the worker bees. We have not even had a cost of living increase in the past 7-8 years, but hey, it's all good because our CEO just had a 79% increase in his compensation over the previous year, earning him over $ 40 million. Also, company employees, some of which dedicated their entire careers to Medtronic, got hit with hefty taxes due to the Medtronic/Covidien merger. Conversely, after less than 5 years of employment with Medtronic, CEO Omar Ishrak was granted an addition $25 million dollars of stock to cover his taxes, along with approximately 20 other executives that unlike employees had their tax burdens covered. I sincerely question how Mr. Ishrak is capable of looking his employees in their faces when he shows up at the National Sales Meeting. This company's leadership clearly does not value it employees and that is sad, because it used to be much different 10+ years ago.
There is no question that Medtronic has become a huge multinational conglomerate, but it was built off the backs of the CRHF division. The work/life balance of a CRHF representative is horrible, when one considers that as a sales representative, you are on call 24 hours a day Monday-Thursday, every 4th to 5th weekend and most holidays. As a result we should be compensated accordingly for the sacrifices that we are expected to make time and time again by putting work before our families and sometimes our own health, but we are not. I have many friends working at different companies who sell medical devices outside of CRHF and even they feel it is ridiculous that we are not paid MUCH better than they are for the quality of life that we endure.
Lastly, in CRHF the training learning curve is so long, that they will not allow you to move to a different division, no matter what management claims. I know many people who have had managers in other divisions openly admit that they had been told they are not allowed to hire from the CRHF division.
I realize that this review contains more negative content than positive and that there are also reviews on this site which are positive. That said, when reading the positive reviews, please take note of the length of employment of the reviewer. Many of the positive reviews are written by newer employees. Those of us who have been with the company for longer periods know what Medtronic once was like and that is where we are basing our comparisons.
