MBDA Reviews

Pros

Great salary and benefits for a small company of less than 100 employees

Cons

unstable small company two layoffs in 18 months

Advice to Senior Management

Get some contracts

Pros

Flexi time, can get up to extra 2 days off a month, Great Gym, facilties and social life

Cons

No sharing of information between disciplines and "us and them" attitude most of the time is spent figuring out ways to dump work onto and stiutch up other departments. Only those who "talk a good curry" while spending hours in the pub while somebody else takes the blame for thier screw upsd gets promoted. Institutional apathy, everybody wants to snipe at other departments but nobody wants to actually do anything, Lightweight departments like HR and finance run everything and do nothing. When you say something to try and sort out the mess your are lablled a nut job that needs proffesional help, not attempt at performanace management just sink that knife into the chest.

Advice to Senior Management

Resign so that the company might get somebody in that knows what they are about

Pros

Good atmosphere amongst the young people on site - really social group. The flexitime arrangement is a real plus too - getting to go home at lunchtime on a Friday certainly frees up your weekend.

Otherwise, if you're lucky, there are some opportunities to travel, including to the continent (office in Paris and various locations in Italy). Failing that, you should at least get the chance to visit the sites in Bolton or Bristol.

Cons

The work can be quite tedious, probably a reflection of the fact that in this industry you are working to very long (sometimes up to 20 years!) timescales.

Advice to Senior Management

When people are recruited as high-flyers, they should be stimulated as such

Pros

There are many people with diverse skillsets.

Cons

Progression opportunities are limited, and average salary for non-management staff is quite low.
People work in isolation, and rarely collaborate with each other due to international beaurocracy. Hence, knowledge isn't shared across MBDA and most people have a low expectations of the future (and low morale).

Advice to Senior Management

1) Break down some of the international barriers, and encourage staff to take interest in the company.
2) Present realistic and achievable company goals to every employee with timescales in Annual performance reviews.
3) Present an opportunity for employees to move around in the company and progress in their careers, instead of informing new employees that career progression is nearly impossible.
4) Focus on sharing knowledge across the company in order to improve collaboration. Only you (senior management) have the power to make this happen!