Donaldson Company

HQ
Bloomington
14,000 Total Employees
Year Founded: 1915

Donaldson Company Compensation & Benefits

Updated on April 21, 2026

This page summarizes recurring themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Donaldson Company and has not been reviewed or approved by Donaldson Company.

How are the compensation & benefits at Donaldson Company?

Strengths in retirement programs, broad health coverage, and paid leave are accompanied by challenges around base‑pay competitiveness, healthcare affordability, and the distribution of bonuses and equity. Together, these dynamics suggest a solid but not top‑tier total rewards experience that varies by location and role.

Key Insight for Candidates

Defining tradeoff: Solid, broad benefits and occasional incentives offset middling base pay, while most upside (bonuses/equity) skews to leadership. This makes total compensation feel adequate rather than market‑leading and fuels fairness concerns. Candidates prioritizing high base or widely shared variable pay may be underwhelmed.

Evidence in Action

  • Leadership‑Weighted Incentive Structure Bonuses and equity skew toward leadership, per recurring employee feedback and documented organizational patterns. This concentrates upside rewards at the top, leaving frontline and plant teams feeling under‑rewarded and weakening perceived pay fairness and motivation.
  • Overtime‑Driven Earnings Norm Overtime in plant roles functions as a primary income lever, per recurring employee feedback. Employees can significantly increase take‑home pay during high‑hour periods, but sustained schedules trade compensation gains for fatigue and reduced work‑life balance.

Positive Themes About Donaldson Company

  • Retirement Support: Retirement programs like a 401(k) match, profit-sharing, and an employee stock purchase plan are positioned as meaningful components of total compensation. Company materials consistently frame retirement benefits within a broader Total Rewards offering.
  • Healthcare Strength: Medical, dental, vision, and a 24/7 Employee Assistance Program with mental‑health resources create a comprehensive health and wellbeing package. Healthcare is often characterized as decent and a core strength of the overall offering.
  • Leave & Time Off Breadth: Paid time off, holidays, and paid parental leave are explicitly included, alongside other company‑paid leaves such as bereavement, jury duty, and military leave. Some locations highlight multi‑week PTO from the first year, underscoring breadth of leave options.

Considerations About Donaldson Company

  • Unfair & Opaque Compensation: Base pay is frequently characterized as middle‑of‑the‑pack or on the low side for certain roles and markets, with notable variation by site and function. Broader commentary portrays compensation competitiveness as trailing stronger peers in some comparisons.
  • High Benefits Costs: Health insurance is sometimes described as expensive or lacking in value, which dampens the appeal of otherwise broad coverage. Affordability concerns surface alongside moderate overall benefits satisfaction.
  • Poor or Misaligned Recognition & Rewards: Bonuses and equity are described as concentrated at leadership levels, leaving some frontline roles feeling under‑rewarded. Perceptions of uneven incentive distribution contribute to mixed views of total compensation.
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These insights are generated using AI and may not reflect internal data or verified company information. They are intended solely for general informational purposes and should not be considered a definitive assessment of the company’s reputation. If you are a representative of this company, and would like this page to be removed, you may contact us via this form.
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