John Deere Reviews

Pros

the pay is good and the benefits are good. If you like to travel you could have the opportunity to do so.

Cons

There is not much for employee recognition. The raises are not good at all, but that might have to do with the economy. If they have a good quarter/year...it should be reflected in the raises.

Advice to Senior Management

reward your employees for work done above and beyond what their position requires. Share in the good fortune with the employees who make the business what it is.

Pros

- Recent emphasis on flexible work arrangements (a decade later than everyone else, but progress just the same).
- Pay is good for the area. In some of the smaller locations, you could live like a king on a John Deere salary.
- Good emphasis on employee development. The JD Learning classes aren't great, but they do offer a tuition reimbursement so that you can get a real education.
- There are some really great middle managers in supply management, folks that genuinely try to do the right thing.
- The young people on the bottom end of the organization are great. Inexperienced, but defiantly have their heads screwed on right. If the upper levels of management and the big 3 automotive refugees would hurry up and retire, you would see a level of performance at Deere that would dwarf the rest of the industry. There is a ton of pent up talent in the individual contributor level.

Cons

- While other companies are tearing down functional silos and flattening the org chart, John Deere is calling a silo contractor to reinforce theirs. Little fiefdoms are popping up everywhere.
- As a result of the point above, functional areas don't play nice. You will spend half of your day (at least in Waterloo) defending yourself from others in the organization. Once something goes wrong, there isn't a scramble to make it right, there is a scramble to hurry up and generate a "metric" that shows it is someone else's fault.
- Emphasis on SVA (shareholder value added) drives some really bad behavior. Shoving tractors out the door at all costs is the norm. There isn't a single process or standard that can't be subverted, at least temporarily, to make green tractors roll out the door.
- John Deere is a political nightmare. We have created a giant bureaucracy of an organization, and then celebrated and promoted people who prove capable of little else than navigating through the red tape. When the only skills that are valued are political in nature, promotions go to the people least likely to change the climate, and people who do amazing things are left at the lower levels of the org chart to keep making miracles happen. Your best bet, to get promoted, is to pick a mentor who can shoehorn you into a management position.

Advice to Senior Management

One of the John Deere core values is "aligned, high-performance teamwork." We need to start paying attention to that mantra, and determine how we are going to work together to accomplish our goals. Right now, those are just words with little backing them up.

Pros

Financially strong company with world presence.

Cons

I have been experiencing a lot of turf wars recently that we are not dealing effectively.

Pros

- Good job security. If you continue to show up, you won't get fired.
- Good (but not great) pay and benefits.
- Nice people.

Cons

- Good job security. If you continue to show up, you won't get fired.
- A lot of downtime, spent many days staring at the wall.
- For IT, all roads lead to Quad Cities, IA/IL.

Advice to Senior Management

In order to attract and retain top IT talent, consider changing the work environment to be more like SV. Most top IT companies now offer casual (not business casual) environments with mini-perks (John Deere affiliation doesn't count as a perk).

Pros

many younger, modern thinkin people employed @ the lower management,sales positions. lots f room to move up in the compnay if you are willing to relocate

Cons

not a great place if you are looking to put down roots, time off is tough to get during busy seasons (summer & fall)

Pros

Great benefits, great experience! Wonderful place to work and gain wide breadth of experience. Would recommend as place to explore!

Cons

May be slightly political. You need to always be aware that the person you are currently working with may be your boss tomorrow!

Pros

competitive company, very good system. Have opportunities to learn a lot of things. State of art equipment and relaxed enviroment.

Cons

Hard for promotion. Too big a system you have to follow. Not suitable for avdanced degree. Some managers are too stubborn.

Pros

Culture is very nice and friendly

Cons

location is kind of remote

Advice to Senior Management

more aggressive in the future

Pros

-Excellent Pay. They pay you a national salary that is actually what you are worth and since most of their facilities are in locations where the cost of living is low you are actually quite wealthy. Also pays an excellent bonus which can be up to 16% of your pay for a grade 7.
-Benefits. Great 401K match and pension (a rarity in today's world). Excellent vacation package.
-Good work/life balance. I always felt like I could take off for something whenever I wanted and not have to worry about getting in trouble.
-Opportunity to work in a wide variety of technical areas, but not is all as it seems here.
-In general a benevolent company, no layoffs in the last economic downturn.
-Great coworkers. For the most part the fellow engineers you work with are very smart and you form a very tight friendship with them. The same can not be said for many of the other functional areas such as supply management and quality etc.

Cons

-Poor geographic locations. Most Deere facilities are in the rural midwest where you are very far from any big city. Not much to do in any of these locations. This may or may not bother you, but at least be aware of it.
-Good old boy culture. They will promote their friends and you will do what they tell you at work.
-Not much control over your career direction. This relates to the good old boy culture. They will tell you what position you are going to take. This is fine if you don't care about your career or what you do, but if you do care this could be a problem.
-Nepotism. Small town locations mean small town games. People get promoted because of who they are related to or know. This happens far more often than you think.
-Performance reviews are joke. No matter what you did you during the year it has nothing to do with the rating you receive.
-Poor performers are not dealt with at all. This burdens everyone else who is forced to pick up their work.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the good old boys club and become a 21st organization like you clame to be. Improve focus on quality.

Pros

Flexible Work hours
Great R&D
Great Employee Engagement
Competitive salary structure
Good retirement plan

Cons

Very little to no employee recognition
Uses the good old boy network to hire middle managers
Performance review does not count for much with respect to advancement
No accountability when it comes to low performing employees
Some Managers have a my way or the highway attitude.
Lots of promotions occur in back room deals.

Advice to Senior Management

You have initiated a section of people goals in performance review. If I had to provide a review of the Higher Management at Urbandale, you have failed in your people goals. Please stop using back room deals and good old boy network to hire and promote people.