United Space Alliance Reviews

Pros

Salary! Benefits, Interesting work, NASACampus

Cons

Lack of innovation and government red tape and politics

Advice to Senior Management

The culture needs to improve. There is a strong culture of employees who aren't willing to ask questions or listen to others due to their own insecurities; they must appear "right" at all times even at their own detriment.

Pros

Good, high tech company launching Space Shuttles before they were retired. A lot of leading edge technology and software used in day to day operations.

Cons

Since the Shuttles have been retired much of the human knowledge base has been lost too layoffs and job loss.
Due to the age of Shuttles near the end of program, parts became scarce.
Funding always depended on the whims of government and no long term goals were ever set.

Advice to Senior Management

Get older workers working with younger, newer workers to keep the human knowledge base alive and growing.
Get rid of the retired in place dead weight.

Pros

Competitive Salary, Great benefits, Rewarding work.

Cons

Once it was announced the shuttle program was coming to an end, it all went downhill.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to be honest with employees about future situations. Don't change the severance package.

Pros

Working for a company plugged into the space progam gave me a sense of worthiness. I worked along side high caliber proffessionals dedicated to their jobs and more importantly dedicated to the advancement of the human condition. My experience was unique in that it challenged me on every level that I considered a personal weakness. This allowed me to grow proffessionally and add value to my self. This company offered a very generous severance package. It was fair in it's assessment of employees during personal evaluations. The training was superb. There was a variety of classes available to allow one to grow their proffessional skills. They offered a competetive benefits package and vacation time was acceptable.

Cons

Salary was not as competetive with the private industry.Company was inexperienced when bidding on new contracts from NASA resulting in great loss in potential revenue.

Pros

Being involved with history - the space shuttle program

Cons

The company is pretty much going away...no more shuttle...

Pros

People and friends/coworkers were completely committed; Being part of the space program; Work goals and contribution to national pride were inspiring; Self-Satisfaction was high; Compensation average, but benefits were better than most others.

Cons

It was strictly "butts in seats" work, with little vision on expansion, new markets, new capabilities. Company was structured closely around NASA organizations, which works well for NASA but not other customers. Financial structure was optimized for work with NASA and inflexible toward new work. USA hamstrung by parent companies and "locked into" specific work and restricted from other work. USA was designed to do one thing and it did it well and was not permitted or able to do adapt. Management team was often afraid to share bad news with employees and customers alike, for fear of employees leaving and a bad performance score from customers.

Advice to Senior Management

If you can't overcome the parent companies, take pride in what you did for many years and help your people transition to other work. Communicate everything - ahead of time and not after the fact. Your people deserve to know what is happening when it is happening.

Pros

Paid good before end of contract.

Great severance package.

For the most part, really cared about the employee's but don't ever cross the company. Which
I guess was pretty fair.

Cons

Congress didn't fund the space program any more. The company tried to keep us as long as they could. But China is the new leader in Space Travel.

Advice to Senior Management

You took good care of us financially with the end of the space program.
Thanks Guys!

Pros

Good benefits even after cost increases
Flexible hours with compensated time option
Very good recognition by management
Rewarding job in space industry

Cons

Opportunities for career advancement are more and more limited as the company shrinks.
Likelihood of company going away and being absorbed by member companies leads to career uncertainty
Salary increases and promotions are not as robust as they once were.

Advice to Senior Management

Clarify the future of the company as soon as possible and move forward quickly.

Pros

Working at the epicenter of human space flight is one of the most interesting jobs you could have as it allows you to feel as if you are really contributing science and exploration. The people are friendly and management is approachable and listens to your concerns. There can be long hours but you are typically compensated with additional time off in other weeks.

Cons

Layoffs and government downsizing of the human space flight program have devastated employee morale with no real light at the end of the tunnel. Benefit cost increases, salary and promotion freezes, and future uncertainty also contribute heavily to what is a very dark period for the company, if it continues to even exist.

Advice to Senior Management

Employee morale is at an all time low, now that layoffs have been mostly completed everyone is wondering if there are any career opportunities, promotion, or competitive salary increases coming in the future. Without any indication of these things coming our way people are going to find other places to go.

Pros

Decent benefits and good pay (particularly for the local area around Kennedy Space Center); generous vacation days and holidays.

Cons

The excitement of launching space shuttles is gone. Until this company gets more business there is not much left to do after decommissioning the space shuttle orbiters. There doesn't seem to be much future for USA.