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US Auto Manufacturer Company And CEO Report Card

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:49:03 +0000

It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for the big 3 US auto manufacturers. Between the government bailouts, CEO changes and rough economy, it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. But as we watch from the outside, it’s those on the inside – the employees – who have been faced with the challenge of helping their respective employer ride out the recession. So how do employees at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler feel their automaker employer and top boss (or bosses in some cases) are performing? Glassdoor.com reports¹.

Are employees satisfied with how their CEOs are leading the company?

When employees of these three automakers responded to: “do you approve of how your CEO is leading the company?”, Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally topped approval ratings. In the automaker company analysis, which looks at how these CEOs and companies compare this past year compared to the year prior, Mulally receives a 96% approval rating between mid- August 2009 and mid-August 2010, up from 86% the same time frame a year before.

GM’s now former CEO, Ed Whitacre, who stepped down today, was also an employee favorite with a 90% approval rating. The company has seen three CEOs in the last two years alone and previous CEO, Fritz Henderson, did not fare as well with employees as Whitacre – he teetered between a 67% approval rating in early 2009 and a 52% approval rating later the same year. Henderson’s predecessor, Rick Waggoner Jr., was ousted from office by President Obama and held a 55% approval rating during his tenure between Summer 2008 and Spring 2009.

Chrysler has also seen shifting in leadership over the past two years. Bob Nardelli, who stepped down in April 2009 following public scrutiny, received a 31% approval rating. Sergio Marchionne, the current Chrysler CEO has started to improve the relationship with employees, and has a 56% approval rating since August 2009.

Note: Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli stepped down April 2009; He was replaced by Sergio Marchionne in June 2009. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner Jr. stepped down March 2009; He was replaced by Fritz Henderson. Fritz Henderson stepped down December 2009; He was replaced by Ed Whitacre who stepped down September 2010. Whitacre has been replaced by Daniel Akerson)

How satisfied are employees with jobs and companies?

Based on employee reviews, Ford has made the greatest strides in the past year, earning a 3.6 company rating compared to a 3.0 rating at the same time last year. Chrysler has also taken a step forward according to employees, earning a 3.1 rating up from 2.7 the year before. However, General Motors has fallen slightly – this year the company received a 2.9 rating, down from 3.0 the year before.

When we take a deeper look into the company satisfaction ratings, there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. For example, Chrysler improved or held steady across all of the eight workplace factors evaluated in the Glassdoor online survey, like career opportunities or compensation & benefits. Employees at Ford reported greater satisfaction in all but one of the eight workplace factors; in this past year, employee morale and senior leadership showed the most improvement. General Motors saw workplace ratings fall in three categories, including recognition & feedback, work/life balance and fairness & respect.

What is in store this next year for automakers is anyone’s guess. While news has been heating up with stories of demand for energy efficient vehicles and increased hiring, it’s countered with recalls and quarterly earnings losses. But, if employee sentiment is any indication of future success, Ford is looking the most optimistic.

¹ Report evaluates company and CEO approval ratings submitted between 8/16/2008 to 8/15/2009 and 8/16/2009 and 8/15/2010. Company and CEO approval ratings in this report are based on at least 20 employee ratings per year; Note, both Sergio Marchionne and Ed Whitacre received less than 20 approval ratings between 8/16/2009 and 8/15/2010.

US Auto Manufacturer Company And CEO Report Card is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

General Motors To Add 1,600 New Jobs; Employees Offer Insights To New Hires

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:12:09 +0000

Late Tuesday, General Motors announced that they are planning to increase their workforce in North America with 1,600 new jobs. As CNN reported, this news comes as part of a $890 million upgrade of five plants in North America. For those looking for work and who feel GM may be the company for them, Glassdoor has insights into the company, direct from its employees.

Below are snapshots from among the 175 reviews on Glassdoor designed to help get a better feel for what’s it would be like to work inside the walls of this US auto manufacturing giant…and figuring out if this company is the best fit for you:

What it is like to work at General Motors:

General Motors Salaries | More details for General Motors Jobs | General Motors Reviews | General Motors Interview Questions & Reviews

The Pros…

“Salaries are in line with the rest of the industry. There are a variety of classes to upgrade or improve your skills.” – General Motors employee (Warren, MI)

“The company is reinventing itself post bankruptcy, so lots of challenges.” – General Motors employee (location n/a)

“Great products being introduced and would like to be a part of the turnaround” – General Motors employee (Detroit, MI)

The Cons…

“There were plenty of people in position of management at GM, who wouldn’t last a month in most companies.” – General Motors Purchasing Manager (Warren, MI)

“Cutbacks have created a ridiculous work load at times…Future skilled trades hires will still get the same good hourly rate, but with reduced benefits.” – General Motors Electrician (Location n/a)

“Work week was long, usually ranging from 55-65 hours a week, but at least I was paid for it.” – General Motors employee (Detroit, MI)

Interested in finding out more? Here are some resources where you can dig in further:

GM salary reports or don’t forget to check out how these compare at other competitor companies like Ford or Chrysler.
GM interview questions and reviews
Additional GM company reviews
Also take a look at how auto manufacturers compare in terms of company and CEO ratings

Company	Company Rating	CEO	CEO Approval Rating
General Motors	2.9	Ed Whitacre	n/a
Chrysler	2.8	Sergio Marchionne	67%
Ford	3.2	Alan R. Mulally	88%

If you do get a job interview, we’d love to get your feedback on the process.

General Motors Salaries | More details for General Motors Jobs | General Motors Reviews | General Motors Interview Questions & Reviews

General Motors To Add 1,600 New Jobs; Employees Offer Insights To New Hires is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

GM Files for bankruptcy: What advice do you have for the company?

Glassdoor Team — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:36:28 +0000

It finally happened — General Motors officially filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Although the numbers varied in the media in terms of the actual on employees effected, reports note that up to 14 plants and 17 factories will be closed, including the lay-off of nearly 8,000 salaried employees between now and the end of the year. All of these efforts will be made in attempt to bring the company back to life in the midst today’s filing. The New York Times includes a great primer on the bankruptcy announcement for those interested in learning more on the details.

Back in April we reported on the cuts GM had made to potentially avoid today’s announcement, along with some advice employees had for CEO Fritz Henderson. Since publishing that blog post, we’ve seen a number of employees offer up additional advice given the current environment. As the last round of cuts didn’t seem to work, perhaps if Henderson and other senior management pay more attention this time around it will help GM get back on its feet:

Look towards the future, should have a break-even point that would be recession proof. Should always have a bottom line and conserve our capital.- Anonymous, Warren, MI

What happened to common sense?- Anonymous, Detroit, MI

If you’re going to downsize employees and want to improve morale at the same time, get rid of the non-value-added people regardless of their years of service.- Supervisor, Warren, MI

It is time to push back on the U.S. government and ask for a coherent energy policy, health care policy, global trade policy, manufacturing policy, and tighter regulation of the banking and oil industries. Maintain the perfect GM leadership track record of integrity and ethical practices. Publicly promote GM’s plant safety record, quality improvements, productivity gains, diversity policies and corporate responsibility.- Director of Program/Planning Management, Detroit, MI

Do you, or have you worked for GM in the past? What advice would you give the company to help them emerge from Chapter 11 and go on to once again be a successful company?

GM Files for bankruptcy: What advice do you have for the company? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

GM Making Big Cuts to Avoid Bankruptcy

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:40:27 +0000

General Motors Corp., trying to avoid a U.S.-backed bankruptcy on June 1, may close plants and scrap models as much as four years sooner than planned to lower its break-even point. According to Bloomberg, the cuts could mean GM would be profitable in a U.S. market with sales of as few as 10 million autos. The annual sales rate was 9.9 million in March, after GM said Feb. 17 its break-even target was at 11.5 million to 12 million.

The new CEO announced to employees via email Monday that it will cut about 1,600 salaried workers this week – which is part of a previously announced plan. These planned jobs cuts are expected to take place throughout this week. And while we’re sure employees are nervous about whether they get to stay or have to go, we’re still getting some insights from them as to what other quick actions can take place to hopefully keep the company afloat. Below are some suggestions that CEO Fritz Henderson can take into account as he weighs some tough decisions:

“Remove your level 8′s if they have been in their positions for more than 10 years!” -Engineer (Warren, MI)

“Look at the long term view of the company. In all my years with the company, everything was always looked at in the short term.” – Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Flint, MI)

“Decentralize if you want plants to compete against one another to see who is really the best!!! Plenty of downsizing of the “doers”, but not one manager downsized.” – Manufacturing Engineer (Detroit, MI)

“Move to an attractive location and reap the financial benefits (and cull the workforce).” – Senior Systems Analyst (location n/a)

“There is little trust between union and management, still. We must resolve the fact that we are partners, and we win and lose together.” – Quality Operator (Toledo, OH)

Currently the company garners a neutral (3.1) company rating according to employees (note due to CEO Fritz Henderson’s brief time in office to date, reviews on his job performance are limited). We’ll keep you posted on what employees continue to report, and how company as well as CEO ratings are impacted.

Work at GM? What do you suggest? What’s working at GM and what’s not?

GM Making Big Cuts to Avoid Bankruptcy is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

GM CEO Ousted; CEO Approval Ratings Were Up

Glassdoor Team — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:29:46 +0000

Last night General Motor’s CEO Rick Wagoner was ousted from office in a move that was prompted by the government. As the Wall Street Journal reports “The Obama administration used the threat of withholding more bailout money to force out General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and administer harsh medicine to Chrysler LLC, marking one of the most dramatic government interventions in private industry since the economic crisis began last year.”

When we last reported in December on the CEOs for the three major US auto manufacturers, we analyzed employee sentiment around the pending government bailout and found that many employees had pride for their jobs and work but were frustrated – and even embarrassed – with the current situation, the number of management layers and poor decision-making processes.

It’s interesting that throughout the past three months, all CEO approval ratings have increased at least 2 percentage points and most of the companies’ ratings remained stable except for a very slight drop at Ford and GM.

Glassdoor Report: Top 3 US Automakers Comparison (data based on employee sentiment)
	Company Rating (Max: 5 Pts.) 3/30/2009	Company Rating (Max: 5 Pts.) 12/10/2008	CEO	CEO Approval Rating 3/30/2009	CEO Approval Rating 12/10/2008	CEO Disapproval Rating 3/30/2009	CEO Disapproval Rating 12/10/2008
Chrysler	2.6	2.6	Bob Nardelli	25%	17%	62%	66%
Ford	3.0	3.1	Alan R. Mulally	65%	63%	14%	14%
GM	3.1	3.2	Rick Wagoner	45%	42%	33%	32%

Focusing back on GM’s Rick Wagoner, our question becomes whether or not employees sensed this impending change. According to some employees a change within management was the right thing to do.

Just a couple weeks ago, a General Motor’s Product Manager (Detroit, MI) writes in “Do some serious house cleaning within the Exec ranks before the company implodes.”

We also observed a General Motors Marketing Manager (Detroit, MI) comment that “market conditions are making it very stressful – also still a lot of old school management style – more and more is going away though…”

So what can General Motors do moving forward to improve? Employees provide the following suggestions:

“Look at the long term view of the company. In all my years with the company, everything was always looked at in the short term.” – General Motors Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Flint, MI)

“Listen to your employees who are doing the job, quit [smothering] them with meetings and paperwork.” – General Motors Maintenance General Supervisor (Location n/a)

“Quit pulling from the same schools unless you want the same results. Decentralize if you want plants to compete against one another to see who is really the best!!!” – General Motors Manufacturing Engineer (Detroit, MI)

“Give people a chance to perform. Don’t assume they need to have ‘Manager’ or ‘Director’ in their title to be capable of good-decision making.” – Anonymous (Detroit, MI)

“The geographic location of GM limits the talent it can attract. Move to an attractive location and reap the financial benefits (and cull the workforce). The very best employees can work wherever they want. Very few will want to live in the Detroit area.” – General Motors Senior Systems Analyst (Location n/a)

President Obama is expected to make a formal announcement later today about his plans for Chrysler and GM, which have already been given $17.4 billion. In a CNN report, it states that GM will get 60 days and Chrysler 30 days in which to make a final push toward proving they can run viable businesses. If Chrysler succeeds, it will receive a $6 billion loan. In GM’s case, the officials would not specify how much money the carmaker might receive.

GM CEO Ousted; CEO Approval Ratings Were Up is a post from: Glassdoor Blog