GE Energy Reviews

Pros

Lots of opportunities to move and go anywhere in the world. They seem to avoid layoffs but they do have them.

Cons

Still have the Jack Welch mentality to fire the bottom 5-7% each year even if it is unwarranted. Very slow career advancement. You've got to be very good at you job and the politics to move up. Otherwise it's just hoping to hang on.

Advice to Senior Management

Go have one on one skip levels with anonymity and you hear what is really going on.

Pros

Experience working for a dynamic Fortune 100 company. Pay and benefits are competitive. GE provides a number of options for career growth.

Cons

Bureaucratic environment and communication is lost through the different levels of leadership. Slow to make changes on projects and business strategies. Too many different systems (piece-mealed together) in order to support job functions.

Pros

You don't see a lot of mass firings in the engineering department. They are happy to put you in a position to do a job that you may not be considered for in another company because of lack of experience or qualifications. Free parking, coffee and occasional lunches.

Cons

Like others have said. They have trouble getting rid of dead weight and difficulty motivating the top talent to stay. Very much a sit down and shut up environment. Feedback is not encouraged. Everything is political. Requires a policy and procedure for everything. It is common to see people thrown under the bus. Getting basic tools to do your job is impossible. Lots of lip service to software development methodologies in use etc., but no execution to back it up. Turnover is high.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want to attract the best and the brightest you need to create an environment that encourages it. When I was recruited into the company the HR person told me about how GE looked for people who can connect the dots etc.. The culture actively discourages this kind of thinking and many of your hires have trouble doing this. Ditch the ceremony and get to the essence and give your people the tools that they need to do their job...if people are not able to perform after you have given them the tools and environment you need to remove them from the team.

Pros

If you have confidence then you can work on anything and everything...sky is the limit. Good training programs and lot of money is spent on training.

Cons

Too much time spent on meetings...If you are working in India then you end up working late nights almost all the days...

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work...

Pros

Plenty of career growth opportunities, company encourages employees to explore different opportunities internally. Switching between functions, businesses and countries is doable specially for high performers.

Great place to learn.

Cons

For GE Energy, can't think of much cons based on my personal experience.

Advice to Senior Management

Lean out the matrix organization, it is getting a bit complicated.

Pros

GE as a brand. Competitive salary prices. Nice people and environment.

Cons

Lack of strategic Leadership. Very structured. And much of process oriented. (Even to get office stationery, which I know I can easily get in few minutes need to raise support calls etc.)

Pros

- Healthcare benefits are good (but they used to be a bit less expensive)
- Pay is fair
- Amazing opportunities to move from one company within GE to another while retaining your years of service and benefits

Cons

- LARGE organization that is a bit slow to change at times
- some of the business units are rather political in how they are run (Supply Chain)

Advice to Senior Management

Look for inconsistencies in how the different P&Ls are being run, some have great processes and leadership, some have a lot of room for improvement. Keep innovating!

Pros

Competitive salary, very focused. Very clear goals.

Cons

Short term $$ driven, long term product and customer sacrifices. I was not proud of our products.

Advice to Senior Management

Ask another question besides "When can we ship it?"

Pros

Diversity, technical exposure and location

Cons

No feedback is given and before you know it, you've been thrown under the bus.

Advice to Senior Management

Honesty and communication.

Pros

Employee integrity - focus on safety, quality, timeliness, cost
Great products, challenging projects, flexible work time.
recreational opportunities, location: 20 minutes away from Lake Tahoe

Cons

matrix management: it is hard to know what your priorities are and how to please multiple bosses. some times it is hard to know what the right thing to do is due to conflicting goals.

Advice to Senior Management

encourage employees to stay in job long enough to gain depth and experience. switching jobs every two years in order to get a better raise does not lead to depth. Read the book Silos, Politics and turf wars.