Caterpillar – “Net positive, with several "buts"”

Pros

-Brand recognition. The company produces several unique and top notch products.
-CEO recognition (Jim Owens is intelligent and generally a good leader). Management workforce is largely comprised of quality people.
-The management focused career track seems to offer a lot. There are many options for employees who are willing to vary their experiences every few years (requires moving).
-Traditionally, Cat has been a reliable employer (job security).
-For the Peoria area, the cost of living relative to Cat's level of compensation is a good deal. Peoria commutes are easy.

Cons

-Top-heavy and excessively hierarchical. Far too many managers. Lots of fat there and in the worker bee ranks also.
-Process heavy, which strictly speaking, is fine with me but the red tape is too much. Cat seems unable(unwilling?) to effectively address this.
-Technical career track seems to offer very little, leading to migration of tech employees to management roles. Promotion progression is near zero.
-Though the stated work/life balance aims are good, the reality is sometimes inconsistent: depends a lot on position/project
-Internal organizational structures are very siloed. Metrics prone management often lacks a holistic evaluation approach.
-Performance rating process is weak: strong tendency towards bell curve distribution, performance measures often arbitrary/amorphous for those in IT support roles.
-Difficult individuals are often not dealt with (well or at all), but are allowed to stay and continue their poor performance or mistreatment of coworkers.
-Cat fails at seizing opportunities to leverage IT effectively.
-Old style management. Too traditional, conservative and slow. Want to develop patience? Work here.
-Your career experience here is too directly tied to your direct manager's interest in you. A few are great, others are pathetic, many are just blah.
-Of late, the lack of raises, promotions and bonuses has taken a serious bite out of morale.

Advice to Senior Management

-As a worker bee, I feel too far removed from you. I believe there would be many positive effects if managers could be thinned out and the hierarchy flattened.
-Invest in *progressive* IT. Farm out commodity functionality (systems), but invest in and grow IT expertise internally.