ARINC Reviews in Annapolis, MD

Former Employee – worked at ARINC

Pros – The people and the technology.

Cons – There aren't many women in leadership even though their is an organized group for woman in leadership. They recognize it and are working on it. It is positive and negative.

Advice to Senior Management – You need some diversity on your team.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at ARINC full-time for more than a year

Pros – Opportunity for growth if you push for it. Other than that management is not worried about it. Raises other than annual cost of living increase dont even come with out asking.

Cons – Compensation is terrible even for internal employees looking to grow.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ARINC

Pros – Good interesting work with good technology. You do feel you make a difference

Cons – Like all companies, there is politics, cliques, premadonas, butt kissers, brown nosers, rebels and ignorant sheep. However money is the bottom line. Since the Carlyle take over, morale has plumented. There is barely discernable investment in technology advancement or career expansion. Most employees spend the majority of their time finding policy loopholes to get out of work and leave early, especially fridays. The every-other-friday off work schedule is badly abused. Everyone is scared to death to correct a female employee or minority employee. However others are quickly 'written up". The work ethic is to do as little as possible and pass off work to others. Business trips are scheduled to maximize 'off-time' and party/drinking stories abound. Senior management is fixated on "dont spend money" mantra. Any requests for funds are met with pained expressions as if you just inserted an ice water enema tube. Promotions are given to the popular and the hottest unqualified females. Peyton place scenarios abound as extra marital affairs seem to be the norm and are seemingly rewarded by top management. At least twice a week employees can be found 'gettin their grove on' in the company parking lot. CTS treats employees needs as if they are hackers. The opening of the tech employment market will create a massive vacuum inside the facility as their will be a stampede for the doors. Pay is good to start, but raises have been less than COLA for last 4 years, despite the "all is great" reports from the CEO. For a communications company, there seems to be very little of it internally.

Advice to Senior Management – Spend money on product advancements and people. Treat customers with respect and dont let problems fester. Be proactive and listen to your people who are doing the heavy lifting. Visit their cubicals and let them know they matter. Fire any middle manager that rebukes an employee that speaks to a senior staffer. Communicate more often and truthfully to the employees.

Former Employee – worked at ARINC

Pros – Mostly interesting technical work and projects. Good facilities and nice people working at the company. Great company location if you live in Annapolis.

Cons – Political infighting and cliques sometimes interfere with technical decisions. If you run out of work then you are let go if you can't get something lined up quickly. Tenure and performance don't factor into the decision of cutting people. Creates atmosphere of uncertainty and lowers morale.

Advice to Senior Management – Focus on supporting people doing the technical work and not on looking good to upper management. Work to keep best people on board, not just people who keep busy.

Former Employee – worked at ARINC

Pros – Great name recognition, I've gotten several interviews in the past based on previous work experience there.

Cons – small fish in a big pond

Advice to Senior Management – Don't worry about your direct reports outperforming you.

Current Employee – been working at ARINC

Pros – close to home. competitive pay and benefits. nice area in Annapolis

Cons – still largely run like a governement organization, slow to transition toward commerical business. Good old boy network in place. Incentives to take risks are poor. Purchase by Carlyle has not been a positive as they have not delivered on their promises. It was a lot of hype and many people did lose their jobs. The primary benefactors were were the CEO and the CFO. The employees were largely sold out.

Advice to Senior Management – Take care of your employees. Your business is all about people, without them you will not continue to grow.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at ARINC

Pros – It's in Annapolis, which is a nice place to live. The poeple are friendly for the most part.

Cons – Everyone who could get out was getting out, lots of people were being laid off. The pay was significantly less than I would have earned at most engineering firms. Working in the aviation industry was pretty cool.

Advice to Senior Management – pay your interns a little more.

Former Employee – worked at ARINC full-time for more than a year

Pros – 1) Commuting can be very pleasant if you live on this side of MD. Some departments are better to work in. At least so I'm told.

2) Flexible hours. Alternative Work Schedule (AWS)

Cons – ARINC is currently waiting for a buyer, and it seems like the only employees that are hanging around are the ones that were just hired and/or the ones that still draw a pension. Here is what I observed in my time there:

1) Nepotism - : favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship
This is ramped at ARINC. You will most likely not have a good career advancement due to this practice. Many employees (family members) are getting positions they are not qualified for. It has completely undermined the moral.

2) Signs of Corporate Pathology? - I've found that many (expensive) decisions are made based on private personal agendas no matter if it's good for the company or not. In my department as an example, the clients weren't even consulted on buy in for major changes to make sure they were ok with the ongoing cost.

3) Work Place Diversity - I also noticed there are VERY FEW minorities in leadership roles. I have not seen this to this extent in other work environments. I just thought it might be worth mentioning.

4) No Management Meetings - The employees NEVER get updates with management on what's going on. No management meetings with the employees, performance goals and bonus have diminished to non-existent for those that are on the front line and are reserved for the middle to upper managers.

5) Uneven Workload - I frequently ran into situations where there is one employee that is doing the majority of the work in their departments. When that employee is out, there are severe gaps in the productivity due to the single threaded nature of the organization.

6) Frequent re-organizations - It seems to be about 1 to 2 re-orgs per year. The entire department anxiously awaits to see who your new boss will be for that part of the year to see how your ongoing projects are affected.

Advice to Senior Management – Properly train the staff OR hire competent managers to lead the organization's department. I'd most likely favor the latter. Stop the nepotism. It's really tearing the company apart. It's no secret that investing in good people will take the company further in the long run. ARINC seems to not understand that, or just plain doesn't care anymore! Many of the CONS has grown from inexperienced management.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ARINC full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -Promotes Diversity
-Encourages Work/Life Balance with Alternate Work Schedule (if manager approves). Which allows you to work longer days and have every other Friday off
-Flexible start time

Cons – -Company is up for sale so future is unknown
-Layoffs have occurred in the past year
-Employee Holiday party cancelled
-Benefits used to be good but not anymore
-Advancement based on who you know

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ARINC

Pros – Positive work environment. Frequent paid lunches for accomplishments. Many "lifers" with a commitment to the company. Mostly a good group of people who want to work together.

Cons – Poor salary and raises. Bad communication from top management about changes in the company. Almost all discussions from management focus around EBITDA. Career advancement is limited and depending on which department you end up, there is limited growth in your own knowledge and expertise.

Advice to Senior Management – Quit the EBITDA thing. Communication to the lower eschalons should focus on more than money. Many people are loyal only because they've been there so long, you need to be able to keep new blood.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend