As with any factory, conditions can be hazardous. Industrial machinery combined with weld smoke, noxious gases, and combustible fluids pose a serious health risk. Faurecia is also in the habit of working their employees ten to twelve hours a day, seven days a week. This is not only mentally and physically exhausting, but can make paying bills, meeting appointments, and making time for family and friends next to impossible. Much of the work required is repetitive and monotonous, this too can wear on you over time. Faurecia has a very strict attendance policy. Even though you may only get a dozen days off in a year, they don’t make many exceptions when it comes to missing work unless there is a federal law requiring them to.
The factory is often chilly in the winter and insufferable in the summer, reaching temperatures over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit with relatively high humidity. As a native of the swamps of Louisiana, even I had trouble functioning under such conditions. Fans are scarce and often broken. When an employee finds one in working condition they often chain them to their work area. This is a cause for hostility among coworkers. As can be imagined in such an environment, tempers are short and verbal abuse, even threats of physical violence, aren’t uncommon.
The most common complaint among employees is a lack of managerial ability. Supervisors are often given their position regardless of having no prior experience. They are often friends or family members of upper management. This aside, the main point of derision among the employees is the lack of communication between the supervisors and themselves. Management at Faurecia has a ‘do it or you’re fired’ mentality and will often keep employees in the dark concerning vital information such as quotas, lay offs, shift changes, addition of new orders, loss of business, etc. This attitude also comes into play when it comes to boosting production. Employees at Faurecia are replaceable and are offered little in the way of motivation, which makes hitting the unrealistic daily quotas difficult and altogether frustrating.
