BAE Systems Land and Armaments Reviews

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Interesting work
Good people
Good work life balance

Cons – Poor management
Defense business is uncertain

Advice to Senior Management – Communication and honesty, at least a little

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Great variety of development and test work between different projects. Always seemed like something new coming along to work on. Very friendly and helpful coworkers and middle management.

Cons – Santa Clara site is slowly being closed. Little work to do at the end of my job made it boring. A lot of government bureaucracy made many projects move along very slowly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Older, experienced, easy-to-work-with people. Good benefits, though these are getting trimmed a bit. Satisfaction in knowing we're "protecting those who protect us". There used to be more employee appreciation. Flexible hours; many arrive before dawn.

Cons – Poor management-down communication. Lack of managerial foresight regarding layoffs; let the wong people go. Should be more feedback, e.g. how did we do at this or that equipment show?
Lack of proper recognition of employee contributions.

Advice to Senior Management – Work harder at getting contracts. Cut back and wait instead of laying off and then being short-staffed. Keep Santa Clara Plant 7 going; that's where it all began!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Flexible schedule; great health and dental benefits; 401(k) matching;

Cons – Unclear direction from management. Lots of recent reduction in work force in recent years.

Advice to Senior Management – What's happening? Another reorganization in two years shows signs of weakness in leadership.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Benefits, matching 401, making a product for the American soldier.

Cons – Not knowing if the plant will be open in 6 months

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Above average salaries in my area
Camaraderie with co workers -I worked with great people
Training availability
Business Travel
Interesting Work (when there was work)

Cons – Did not deliver on promises of lifetime employment
Utilization is not managed by your supervisor -you are on your own for the most part
Executive Management is aloof/ inexperienced
Focus is on cutting costs rather than wining/keeping contracts
Is hard to tell who is really in charge

Advice to Senior Management – In the recent past this division has lost incumbent and new contracts solely due to the myopia of its leadership and mismanagement of important projects.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Excellent Pay and Benefits. Tremendous challenges to be solved in any field. Broad Range of opportunities. Excellent training programs. BAE hires some of the best people - your coworkers will be top notch.

Cons – Defense industry cycles have big impacts on hirings / layoffs. If the contracts aren't coming in for your business unit you will have to let good people go during the inevitable RIF (Reduction In Force). This is a defense industry challenge that BAE is not immune to.

Advice to Senior Management – Make better use of independent defense contractors to minimize the effects of the reduction in force. Contractors know from the start that they are only there for a contract.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Some great people working here under horrible conditions that keep on showing up and giving their all.

Cons – Ineffective Leadership at all Levels
Poor Communications
Dysfunctional Culture
Competing efforts affecting Teamwork
Cowboys who are connected get to do whatever they want.

Advice to Senior Management – Fire or Retire your HR Leadership Team
Clean House with the Good Old Boys Club

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – good experience, learned alot about the products that they manufacture

Cons – but employee is not worth anything after the job is completed

Advice to Senior Management – take care of your employees

Former Employee – worked at BAE Systems Land and Armaments

Pros – Great mentoring by older employees. Exciting work and opportunities to learn new technologies. People generally care about oneanother. It was great to know that what I did helped protect our guys and gals in uniform.

Cons – Benefits are getting worse, this year only one medical provider and next year 2011 only one plan, one provider. Everything going up in cost. No more pension plan for new hires. Management wants to move site to Mich. no matter what. New engineers from auto industry (Ford) do not understand the government or armored vehicles. All experienced workers are retireing or leaving. The customer (our troops) will suffer the most.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't throw away your experienced workers and spend some dollars on R & D.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend