John Deere Reviews

Pros

Compensation is pretty fair for the area, but heavily weighted towards an end-of-year bonus. Low-performers are almost never dealt with, with means that advancement, up to a point, is pretty easy if you put in the effort and try to do your job. If you like living in the midwest (I do) this is one of the better compensated places you can go. There is also the chance to move around within the company with a good relo package to offset some of the costs associated with moving for work. At the supervisor level, they will even buy out you house to get you down the road faster.

Cons

Politically, a complete nightmare. I have never worked someplace where there were so many landmines to avoid. Also, expect complete shock if you ever express a desire to do something different or work at another company. Most Deere folks are so brainwashed they think that Deere is the ONLY place anyone should ever want to work. Its certainly a good job, but it is not the same, great, employee-focused place it was in the past. Current management practice is to pay lip-service to the importance of employees to the organization, while constantly "refining" the formula used to calculate bonuses and raises so that you make the same or less each year regardless your performance. Benefits have really taken a hit in the last several years as well, first with a significant change to the health insurance (that resulted in a lawsuit from a group of retirees) and then with a significant cut to the 401K matching plan. The ONLY way to really see a noticeable change in your compensation from year to year is to continue to get promoted. That means you see an organization where every other year people are jumping to new jobs. Continuity within functional areas is horrible. The person you are working with on a project today won't be there tomorrow, and you had better plan to find your next role the day after that if you don't want to be labelled as someone who isn't capable of moving up.

Advice to Senior Management

You have got to find a way to reward people for doing a good job in the role they are in instead of encouraging people to start looking for their next role as soon as possible.

Pros

Decent benefits
Tuition reimbursment
Good relocation packages

Cons

Definitely political,often when jobs became open they were posted as a formality (candidate was already chosen)some jobs were being outsourced ,which limits growth opportunities.Managers showed favortisim.HSA is not pro-employee,deductibles were extremely high.Transitiion from floor to office was very difficult even with a degree.Too much time off,consistent yearly layoffs.Most people were very unhappy .

Pros

Decent compensation package, very good and have opportunities if you willing to move every 2-3 years (and if you you are midwestern white American guy)

Cons

The above. Very homogenous culture, anti-diverse thinking.
Give's very little respect for experiences achieved out of Deere.

Advice to Senior Management

Diverse the culture and the people. Break the fiefdoms that allow for only very specific people to advance.
Get rid of people that are clearly underperformed - not lay off anyone ever, is not a good thing. This cause the fact that there are 100s of people sitting on their a** and doing nothing.

Pros

very flexible work hours, very good benefits considering i'm still a student

Cons

can be overwhelming with school and year round sports

Pros

Deere has decent competitive salaries, although the raises leave something to be desired. The employees are great to work with

Cons

Like I mentioned above the raises are substandard.

Advice to Senior Management

i have no advice for management

Pros

- Great, helpful people
- Excellent culture
- Flexibility
- Challenging work
- Opportunities to advance
- Good compensation
- Inspirational management

Cons

It is difficult to find a real downside to working for John Deere. If there is one, it is perhaps the locations of the company's facilities.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing. The company is on track to stay on track. A strong, conservative approach in all aspects will help the company continue to command a high market share.

Pros

good salary, one of the best compensation packages compared to other companies. work life balance is also great as well. friendly people for the most part.

Cons

john deere really needs to diversify its workforce. women and minorities are usually not well respected and it is very difficult for them to advance into upper management, especially in the technical field. most just end up leaving the company. Also, none of the locations are great, and most are in small midwestern towns.

Advice to Senior Management

retain your top performers including women and minorities by giving them equal opportunity, instead of operating by the good old boy network.

Pros

Interesting products, great people, minimal politics, midwestern values, great career development, especially if you are willing to move.

Cons

Company is moving in a negative direction. Jobs are being sent overseas, including good engineering jobs. Management is not committed to product development. Present generation of senior management is incompetent, unintelligent, unethical, and not worthy of trust.

Advice to Senior Management

Synthesize and communicate a vision for the company that makes American workers believe there's a future at Deere. You do not have buy-in to the present vision from emploees. Employee commitment and engagement has evaporated in the last two years. I was once proud to say I work for Deere, but not anymore. The company is headed in a bad direction and engineers are leaving in droves.

Pros

Senior Management is strong and has good vision
Company treats employees well in general
Good benefits and compensation in general

Cons

Middle management is often clueless, and treats anyone who is different from them poorly
Limited advancement opportunities - women and minorities can pretty much forget it (some departments are OK)
Raises are small to non-existent once you are hired

Advice to Senior Management

Get your middle managers in line with the global vision for the company before they completely destroy a good old company

Pros

Midwest locations, values and norms of behavior; high integrity; generous bonuses when the business does well ; collegial, low conflict culture ; high number of boomer retirements is opening opportunities for other generations. # 1 in industry with acceleratring growth provides promising future and stability.

Cons

Highly analytical organization where creative talents are not valued as highly. Taking risks often has more downside than the possible payoff is worth in terms of career impact as the "baggage" of failures can stay with you a long time. Short term thinking driven by obsession with SVA
(shareholder value added) performance metric.

Advice to Senior Management

Great companies are built and sustained by great people who are attracted to join and stay by great places to work.