Aerojet Reviews

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

Pros – 9/80 schedule. New programs with good future. 401k. HSA

Cons – Insurance benefits aren't the best but nationwide they have deteriorated.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Aerojet full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Some managers will assist in career and personal growth. Most of the coworkers are easy to work alongside, and will provide assistance to get tasks completed. There is opportunity assist on committees and projects.

Cons – Over the years there was a severe decline in benefits compared to rest of industry. Training is an annual expectation/requirement, but the organization does not provide funding or time to complete. It was difficult to reconcile the differences between following company policy and management expectations. When severe violations occurred contradictory to policy, it was expected to be ignored rather than addressed or corrected.

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

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

Pros – Good campus, generally good co-workers

Cons – Too rigid management, HR is in the way of attracting engineering talent

Advice to Senior Management – You are not able to attract engineering talents, hence are forced to settle for the mediocrity. Let department managers choose whom they need to hire and not HR.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Aerojet full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Can't think of any since all the "pros" have been replaced with "cons" due to sequestration fears

Cons – the 4/10 schedule was nice for the first few weeks, but then it turned to 4/12, with the occasional 50 and 75hour weeks thrown in to 5/10 and more frequent 60+ hour weeks, then and talk of starting weekends all with no extra compensation or advancement opportunity
Whatever your desired salary is go 20% above and you might get your desired. Salary range for associate buyer is 32-46k, buyer is 40-57k, unless the pay scales have risen since 2012 those are the highest one could get paid at that job
Management is manipulative and will promise the moon, but don't ask about their promises afterward or you will get chewed daily for a few weeks.
benefits stink, you have to pay $3000 out of your pocket before insurance kicks in at all (prescriptions included)
The poor management and hostile work environment has only intensified due to sequestration since management is playing it up saying " be thankful you still have a job"

Advice to Senior Management – Start rewarding hard work instead of punishing it. pay attention to your professional workers and don't just listen to middle management since they will put down their subordinates just to make themselves look good

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 Aerojet full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Compensation package is fair, 9/80 schedule is nice, holiday shutdown period is very civilized. The unionized workers can be helpful, excellent professionals. They really do try to be a nice place to work.

Cons – Classic old-school management structure is top heavy and rigid. Review process is an HR enforced march to the sea. The unionized workers can be stubborn good-ol-boys once they settle in.

Advice to Senior Management – Once a manager has proven themselves to be an effective leader, give them the latitude to stretch out, inspire and reward their people. Flexibility means nimble responses.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Aerojet full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – 9/80 work week, 3 weeks vacation when you start, which increases the longer you are there, and an extended Christmas break when the entire plant shuts down.

Cons – When the best things are your not being there, you have a problem! They actively try to pigeon hole people. They slashed benefits recently, while somehow finding $500M to buy a dying competitor! I really feel sorry for the good people who have no escape plan.

Advice to Senior Management – Treat your employees as you would like to be treated.

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

Former Employee – worked at Aerojet full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good boss; good coworkers. Plenty of work.

Cons – Budgets and programs fluctuated constantly.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your people. Feedback is a gift.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Aerojet full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Excellent people, engineering group is mostly supportive of each other. Team atmosphere, with very little bickering or animosity. I've enjoyed my time here.

Cons – Salary determination is draconian. Rigid set of rules, and the company seems to completely ignore performance. They "grade" you like most companies, but the rubric is complex and arbitrary. And a few of the managers don't pay enough attention to their employees to fairly fill out the ranking forms...they just seems to guess, to meet the deadline imposed by their manager...and when they try to explain the rankings to the employee during their performance review, they stumble all over themselves justifying why you received whatever rank they happened to pick for a particular category...it is not confidence inspiring...

Advice to Senior Management – Truly reward excellence and innovation, Have managers formally include additional input, from other engineering managers and co-workers, into the performance review, since many of the managers don't have enough contact with the employee to judge properly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Aerojet full-time for less than a year

Pros – Great Cafe onsite. Some of the work is very interesting. Most of the people are nice. Compensation was decent.

Cons – 1970's management style. Some groups are truly worked like slaves, every weekend for months on end. It seems that if your in engineering the weekend is just another couple days to work. Some groups do have good work/life balance but not what I saw of the engineering groups. Management doesn't think twice of asking for 80 hour weeks. In general half the company moves like its stuck in a tar pit while the other half has unrealistic expectations, makes for a bad environment. Glad I got out.

Advice to Senior Management – Retire and make room for skilled replacements.

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 Aerojet

Pros – Benefits package is among the best in the area as well as people are friendly and dedicated to excellence.

Cons – Everything in general moves a little slow, but that is the Aerospace industry.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend