Does Fender Musical Instruments pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Fender Musical Instruments employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Fender Musical Instruments. This rating has improved by 5% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Fender Musical Instruments?

66% of Fender Musical Instruments employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Fender Musical Instruments 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.8 for culture and values and 3.2 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Fender Musical Instruments?

Marketing (9) , Director (5) , Sander (5) , Software Engineer (5) , Engineer (4) , Manager (4) , Product Manager (4) , Buyer (3) , Contractor (3) , Customer Service (3) , Design Engineer (3) , Sales (3) , Sales Representative (3) , Sander/Polisher (3) , Account Manager (2)

What are the pros of working at Fender Musical Instruments according to real employee reviews?

"There are some great people at Fender who are passionate about the company and want to do a good job." ((in 43 reviews)); "There's a great culture underneath with some of the long tenured people that have been there through the decades." ((in 12 reviews)); "good pay and hours and the environment is great" ((in 10 reviews)); "Employees were great." ((in 9 reviews)); "Benefits are good" ((in 9 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Fender Musical Instruments according to real employee reviews?

"Poor management running the saw mill department" ((in 20 reviews)); "Upper management is awful and only cares about bringing home their bag of money and will screw you over while doing it." ((in 14 reviews)); "Unless you're comfortable with politics, instability, and poor leadership, I would not recommend joining this company." ((in 11 reviews)); "Pay / benefits / managers and directors gate keep." ((in 9 reviews)); "The company has experienced recurring layoffs, creating uncertainty year after year." ((in 7 reviews))

What are employees saying about Fender Musical Instruments layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Fender Musical Instruments layoffs and their outlook for job security at Fender Musical Instruments in 2026.

Fender Musical Instruments "management" Reviews

2.0

Jan 18, 2013

Ok, if your passionate about the products

Manufacturing technician

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

casual and friendly on most occasions

Cons

terrible management; the only way to get advancement opportunity is when you get close and friendly with upper management. Hard working employees are left behind.

3.0

Jan 24, 2014

Worthwhile experience, but ultimately disappointing.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing products and people, good work/life balance, and great employee discounts.

Cons

Job shop culture, lack of direction in upper management, lack of long-term growth potential, below average compensation and benefits

2.0

Aug 2, 2013

Working at Fender is cool... until you realize it has all the negatives of a top heavy corporation.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful location and building, monthly bagel Friday, yearly family D-backs games, PB & Jam lunch sessions (when they did them - haven't had one in a while). Employee instrument sales. Good co-workers for the most part. Family friendly/flexible.

Cons

Lack of opportunity to advance. Those without guitar experience or that don't have connections are at a big disadvantage, especially. Good workers and poor workers all get treated and paid the same. Poor behavior is tolerated and not addressed. Low pay. Poor communication. Top heavy. Larry Thomas, the CEO is out of touch with the people keeping the company going, as are most of the people at the top. He seems to think he's a celebrity and uses a company paid private jet while the peons can't get 401k matching or a raise worth a darn. He didn't even show up to the company Christmas party, now what does that tell you? The finance dept. recently acquired all of KMC Musicorp's (which Fender bought out several years ago) workload which means more duties, for the same pay. Morale is at all time low, employees are stretched thin, and management and supervisors are very out of touch with their staff, especially the ones that are taking them through this very long and difficult transition. Even new staff is unhappy. Long time employees are leaving at a record pace. Rumors persist of the company not doing well. The squashed IPO is good evidence of that.

1.0

Jul 26, 2014

How do you suck all the fun out of a guitar company?

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Many good, talented, hard-working employees. Decent insurance available (but it's far from free). Generous vacation and holiday package. And there are still guitars, of course.

Cons

Layoffs five years in a row. Management changes direction seemingly every time the wind blows. Upper management keeps promoting itself, while employee wages fall farther and farther behind (1% raises, anyone?). Generous bonuses for management; nothing for the people actually accomplishing all of the day-to-day tasks. Employees can't count on even modest 401(k) matching. Not ALL of the good people have left. . . yet.

2.0

Mar 5, 2014

nothing special

Quality

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

there are good people and workers here...as long as you do what you have to, you'll be okay.

Cons

bad management; they can't seem to hire the right qualified staff...

4.0

Jan 10, 2014

Great place to work, salary on the low side, for our location

Graphic designer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Great health [medical and dental] and 401k benefits and great purchasing discount. The location when they had a Charleston office, was great.

Cons

Salary was on the low side, and communication between senior and lower management needed improvement. Too many products were created before proper marketing research was done. When the "economy took a nose dive", the company quit contributing to the 401K plan. They should've reduced elsewhere; maybe product development.

5.0

Apr 28, 2014

great place to work.

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

really great brand that everyone is interested in hearing about. its always fun to tell people you work at Fender and always sparks an interesting conversation.

Cons

lots of change in senior management. lately you never know who's getting cut next.