Vantaggi
Company has acceptable benefits for employees who have been hired-on. There is room to grow if you have the motivation and drive. College courses provided at the worksite and paid for by the company, if you are studying in one of a few allowed degree programs and keep up your grades. Team members are a good bunch, most with the drive to do an excellent job and help each other succeed. Management is approachable and makes time for staff, as well as lead operators and trainers.
Svantaggi
Many of the production cells are very repetitive, and ergonomically unsound for 8-10 hours daily of repeated actions. Complaints to this seem to fall on deaf ears. Far too much focus and concern is placed on per hour metrics. It seems that quantity over quality is the true priority for some cells. Huge disconnect between shifts. In some areas in comes across as daily opposition with blame going back and fourth. Management seems to avoid this and pass it off to lower leaders to handle. The Watlow culture called the " Watlow Way" has great direction and promise, but it appears the use is selective to individual advantage. There is a program called Enriching Lives, that is a terrible attempt at brain washing. The concept of molding to your company and its desires. Run by The Pacific Institute, this program is a total waste of time and money. Too much money is spent trying to paint this picture of a culture, yet it still feels very autocratic management wise. There is a saying at this Watlow location that if you do not like the job, leave. Well that has been happening in droves. If you love mandatory overtime you will love working here. For many departments and employees on all three shifts, there is a terrible work life balance. Retention of employees is a huge issue. We are losing good knowledgeable people to bad management decisions and unacceptable and unreasonable expectations. Hiring is through a temp agency and everyone starts that way except a few who are direct hires. There is no clear explanation of when the temps should expect to be hired on. They do not give many reasons for retention and loyalty before you re hired on, if you are even. There is a lot of turnover. Many play favorites, but many companies have this issue.