Poor Leadership, shady HR Team, and tough environment
Pros
*Product line is amazing and unique. *The company allows employees to be off every other Friday. *Compensation was reasonable for my skill level.
Cons
*I enjoyed working with many of the people at CAE, as we all learned to accept the negatives with the overall mission of the company ... saving people's live with our product. However, I often felt that the company message expressed to me by my direct executive manager, "behind closed doors," was not the same as the message stated on the company website. It was not unusual for my executive manager to talk negatively about company performance and other managers at all levels. This created an environment that was uncomfortable at times and lacked trust. *HR runs the company! After a few months of working there, I was warned by a manager that the HR Group Leader is the kingpin who can spin the truth anyway that he pleases for either your benefit or your demise. This perception is apparently shared by many because employees are generally afraid to express their concerns to HR, in fear that somehow it will come back to haunt them in the future. *Training on the computer system is poor. Management has the "figure it out yourself" mentality, which oftentimes equates to errors in the inventory and accounting system, as well as long hours of troubleshooting. *Company morale is low. While working at this company, I have seen many good employees fired. Back when this company was METI, I was told that turnover was rare; however, employees now come to work afraid of whether they are the next to lose their job. Management seems to hire more than necessary when working on a large project, and then layoff as soon as the project is over. Additionally, HR and executive management prefer to fire instead of coach, which can be costly for the company. This is not good for job stability. *There are no formalized policies and procedures for any department, which makes it difficult to train others with the high turnover, leading to unnecessary errors and long hours trying to "figure things out." Overall, this was an experience that I am glad I had, as I know that it will improve my skills and outlook through my career. Sometimes you need to experience the bad in order to know what good looks like!
