GE Consumer & Industrial Reviews

Pros

Good pay for an IT position in Louisville. There is a company pension (5 yr. vesting period) and good contribution to 401k.

Cons

Stone age IT department and management attitude to go with it. Weak benefits (health, vacation). No mobility unless you are in the right management path.

Advice to Senior Management

IT management needs to stop doing what they've always done because that is the way they always done it. Also - IT should support the business not be run as a separate business. Don't just listen - learn and change.

Pros

Amazing people
Great leadership
Really seems to care about employess
Lots of team building and fun employee events.
Awesome communicate on company plan and direction from top management.

Cons

Have a large workforce of under paid contract employees that are replaced with someone else after their contract is up (max length is 1.5 years).
Need to really update some of the systems used
Need better communication between departments and job functions in areas that over lap.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend money to not only invest in systems but people as well. Understand that it takes time to learn how to do a job and then to start to effectively do it. With this system, you always have someone who is new and doesn't fully understand how things work or what is going on, and it leaves your workforce less efficent.

Pros

The leadership programs are beneficial and recognized. You can receive Six sigma certifications that can advance your career.

Cons

The culture is depressing and cut throat. Raise increases are few and far in between unless you are working 12 hour days... Even after you leave the company, managers are not Supposed to give ex-employees recommendations or references.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should focus on the people more.

Pros

The work was interesting and fulfilling, when there was enough of it. I gained a lot of experience with product testing and then reporting on my findings to management (sometimes many levels above my direct manager).

Cons

Your experience can vary greatly with the luck of the draw with your manager and program. Sometimes there wasn't enough work to keep me busy.

Advice to Senior Management

He's doing a good job.

Pros

Good learning work environment
Challenging work

Cons

People are not very friendly
Everyone is overworked
A lot of attitude and ego about how great they think they are ("You should be so lucky to work here")
Appliance Park is really run down and disgusting. One of the buildings didn't have air conditioning for most of the summer one year and everyone was too afraid to mention it to management, which says a lot about the work environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Create a friendlier culture.
Get rid of the attitude

Pros

Co-workers are smart
Ability to run your own show
Strong brand recognition

Cons

Don't invest in technology
Sales force has a strong resistance to change
Good old boy network
Lack of investment from Corporate
At best #3 in industry

Advice to Senior Management

Lighting needs to be led by someone who can grow not cut it's way to the bottom line number. Micromanagers should never be CEOs, those are called VPs.

Pros

Challenging work load with the ability to experience new and exciting fields within the Information Technology framework.

Cons

Still has the stigma that the Appliance business runs the show. If you are not in Louisville, KY you often take a back seat and feel like a second hand citizen at times.

Healthcare benefits have drifted south and more expense is driven to the employe;with salaries below par with many major companies, its becoming harder to see the long term potential to want to stay with the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Salaries need to increase to keep talent in the long term.

Pros

Brand recognition
Decent pay
Most benefits that are still intact are good

Cons

Horrible leadership above branch manager level
No loyalty or reward for hard workers

Advice to Senior Management

Trust your employees. We don't need 4 teleconferences a week to tell us sales are down.....this is the worst recession we've been in in 80 years, we know! Too much micromanaging takes time away from getting in front of the customers to actually sell!

Pros

A large company, growth opportunities, ability to transfer, long runway for career, they take a long time to allow you to come up to speed and show how good you are.

Cons

Very political, and long tenured people are kept whether they are capable or not; GE takes care of the people who stay around. You can get away with very inappropriate behavior if you are viewed as adding unique value. regional office spends excessively while satellite locations are squeezed mercilessly.

Advice to Senior Management

Read the cons. Managing on a quarter to quarter basis hasn't helped the stock price for 9 years, so why not try something else, like strategic planning? There were reasons no one wanted to buy C&I when it was up for sale a few years ago, and I must guess one was no long range development plan.

Pros

A significant amount of name recognition that fortunately enhances even the most mundane of tasks and duties. If you have a great manager, and can tap into the higher demand aspects of GE you can get a lot of exposure and experience in a short amount of time. This is a significant perks of being part of a larger company like GE.

Cons

Very large company with many degrees of separation between you and great people and great work related opportunities. It can be hard to trace your steps to other aspects of the business. The leadership development programs are the best way to go.

Advice to Senior Management

More regular, honest feedback either formally or informally. While I think its crucial for employees to try to encourage this feedback themselves, willingness to trade this info should go both aways.