Pros
Competitive salary Health insurance Pension contribution Majority of people are helpful and friendly Exposure to wide supplier and customer base innovative product Opportunities for progression
Cons
Difficult work environment. Layers of bureaucracy meaning it's difficult to get simple decisions made, or straightforward actions taken, which is very frustrating, and grinds away any sort of job satisfaction. It's a big corporation, and these checks and balances are necessary, but the systems in place are very clunky. There are often multiple systems in place for doing the same thing - I worked on multiple projects, and no two were the same in how the project was structured and managed, which is difficult to understand in such a large, well established company. Because of the stressful work environment, there is a large turnover of staff, which puts the remaining staff under even more pressure to carry the extra workload, and makes them unable to carry out tasks on time, which has a knock-on effect on other peoples tasks - you can spend a lot of your time chasing up colleagues to complete tasks in order to allow you to complete yours. Outside of the factory floor, training is almost non-existent. "On the job" training is the most you can hope for, which basically sink or swim. Already over-worked colleagues, are often willing to help, but often there is little or no handover from your predecessor, as they may already have left by the time their position is filled by you. There is little to no formal training depending on your role. Any formal training you do get, often bares no relationship to reality for the reasons outlined above. Payroll - you'll always get paid, but you need to be vigilant regarding your tax deductions, especially if your circumstances change. I was left with a massive tax bill due to a payroll error, and basically, all I got was shrug of the shoulders, and "sorry about that". I know several others had a similar experience.