sales representative

product specialist

technician

accounts receivable clerk

bilingual customer service associate

Makita

Working at Makita offers strong learning opportunities — especially for those who take initiative and go after growth on their own. There’s a lot of room to develop skills and build industry knowledge, particularly in sales and customer relationships.

However, when it comes to compensation, promotions, and performance bonuses, Makita falls far behind its competitors. Advancement is limited, and efforts often go unnoticed. The team environment could be much more collaborative and engaged — there’s a clear lack of synergy and commitment across departments.

One of the biggest issues is the absence of effective management. Leadership is mostly present to enforce unrealistic expectations, often placing blame for poor sales or internal problems on frontline reps rather than taking responsibility or implementing real improvements.

Although Makita produces quality tools, the company has wasted resources on an excessive and unnecessary variety of products. There’s no clear strategic direction, and it feels like money is being thrown out the window. Makita is no longer in the top 3, and that’s not due to competition — it’s due to pure negligence from those in charge.

Unfortunately, this culture of complacency and arrogance seems to come from the top — even from Japan. There’s a belief that Makita is still at its peak, and leadership refuses to adapt or listen. The industry has evolved, but Makita chose to stand still, driven by greed and pride rather than innovation and humility.

If Makita truly placed capable and forward-thinking people in key management and business development roles, the situation could be drastically different. There’s potential — but it’s currently being wasted.

This isn’t meant to speak poorly — it’s meant to be honest. There are areas that can be improved, and they should be. The first step is admitting that those issues exist.

I have been working at this company for years now and while I can say that the product we offer is exceptional, the overall work environment has left a lot to be desired. 

The good and the bad:

Good: The product we offer is top-notch. Makita solutions truly help our customers, and it shows in the positive feedback we receive. The work itself can be engaging, and there is a sense of pride in knowing that our products make a difference.

Lack of Process: Unfortunately, the lack of proper processes, CRM, sales tools and procedures in place makes it hard to focus on the work. The lack of direction and clarity often results in confusion. There is no consistency in the way things are done, and it feels like every new management direction is a chaotic mess. This often leads to wasted time and effort.

Management Does Not Care for Employees: The biggest issue, however, is senior management's attitude towards employees. They are disrespectful and often dismissive or rude in communication. There is no sense of care or support for employees, and it shows in the low morale of the employees. They do not value their employees and often treat them as replaceable cogs in the machine. It's disheartening to see that our hard work is not appreciated or recognized.

Work Environment: The work environment can be toxic at times. There is a lot of negativity and gossip among colleagues, which creates a stressful atmosphere. People are often pitted against each other, and there is a sense of competition instead of collaboration. This toxicity is not helped by the management's dismissive and disrespectful attitude towards employees, which only fuels the negativity. It's important to create a positive work environment where everyone can thrive, and I hope that the company can address this issue as well.

In conclusion, while the product we offer is great, the poor management, lack of processes and toxic environment make it hard to fully enjoy the work. I hope that the management can take our concerns seriously and work towards creating a more positive and supportive work environment.

A lot of things are pushed under the rug. Completely disorganised at times. The good thing about the job is getting into the groove of the work. Warehouse people are much better, but they have their own problems, aside from the procedural stuff. Most supervisors are good. Upper management is something else.

Most people have great personalities, but there are some who drag others down intentionally and it ruins the work environment. 

Makita is a company that rides on the coattail of their reputation ... I wonder what will happen in 5-10 years. It's pretty disheartening how they will ask the workers for ways to improve when it's as simple as hiring people in management that are actually qualified, and not just because they are liked or because they've worked there for a long time ... they should actually know how to do their job. If they are failing, they should be given a notice of discipline, and if they continue to fail after that, they should be fired or demoted. 

Their company software is also severely outdated. I've worked in offices which are much smaller but much more efficient because of their software.

Pay is sub-par. No room for growth. Stay there for `1-3 yrs, get your experience, and find something else, lest you want to be a lifer and work for a company that can't keep up and will ultimately fail you.

Working at Makita was a nice interesting task as I was responsible for packing various power tools into boxes and other packaging. It was also my responsibility to peel and label boxes with product images to allow the consumer to know what power tool set was in the box. 
     In terms of management or at least to who I reported to you had to develop a sense of perfectionism (almost) or you could end up sensing the tension of getting the floor manager mad at making slight to few mistakes. There is little room for error and for good cause because each tool set must contain the right amount of each item, meaning that nothing should be left over after you finished a batch/ order. The good thing for me though, was that I rarely made mistakes and caught on real quick and was on good terms (most of the times) with the floor manager.
     In terms of workplace culture as a picker/ packer it's fairly decent but not a whole bunch of people to hang with at break/ lunch though as a picker/ packer (probably different in the office). Majority of the workers that I worked with were respectful.  
Hardest part of the job- repetitive task lifting some heavy boxes (if your strong it's not to bad and it also depends on the batch/order your doing).
Most enjoyable part- even though I was hired by a temp agency I had fairly consistent work.

I enjoy my specific job, and my direct coworkers but anything outside of my four walls is just a mess. The management is horrible, there are rarely every good stories about any of them. One recently "resigned" after telling employees that certain employees were "on the chopping block" and everyone else was told if it gets mentioned we will be written up. That perfectly describes what working here is like, its a culture of fear of toxicity.

Every year they tell employee the company is too broke to give our raises, soon most of the jobs here will be minimum wage positions. While they fire or remove positions putting more work on the people who have chosen to stay. Most of the employees here have been here for decades, some more than 40 years, and when they leave there will be no knowledge left in this company.


Horrible and management have no accountability. You are overworked and unpaid . The enviorment is not diverse and HR is not equipped to deal with any form of diversity. Management is not encouraging though they treat to promote work life balance via their memos in actuality it is the opposite . The environment is so unprofessional and with their stance in the distribution market the work place environment to not match .

While it's nice to have set hours and have weekends off the stress that is caused by management isn't worth it. They're always piling more on the low level workers to make up for their mistakes. 
Meeting certain quotas to get a bonus on top of our basically minimum wage salary isn't really an incentive in itself. 
If you can handle management and some tension between co-workers than it's an okay place to work. But if you're looking for a good work environment than I suggest staying away.

Good work- life balance, the service departments are mostly remote and spread across the country.
Pay is low and there is a lot of turnover at head office.
You are just a number to upper management and anything they say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Good benefits and you’re not worked to hard but if you’re ambitious and want a lucrative career it’s not for you.

In my short time here while doing a placement, they had me involved with learning their BPCS system, warehouse control, and internal/international purchasing.  The fellow employees who work there are receptive to newcomers and always willing to lend a hand when you need it.  The environment is calm, quiet and productive.

My Time at makita was good but sometimes they would run out of work and so I had to sweep around the warehouse until they picked the next order. If you apply through the Randstad agency, know that you are not an actual employee and you stand little to know chance getting a permanent  deal at that work. Otherwise they had 1 hour of lunch 2, 15 mins break and so you had enough time for yourself and the work wasn’t hard. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales representative 4 salaries reported	$58,125 per year
Product specialist 4 salaries reported	$52,750 per year
Technician 4 salaries reported	$19.38 per hour
Accounts receivable clerk 3 salaries reported	$43,425 per year
Bilingual customer service associate 3 salaries reported	$21.67 per hour

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