FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Employee Reviews about "manager"

Pros

If you have no idea what are you doing and you just play politics good, you will have a great future at FCA. If you have a degree (paper with your name on it) and have not learned a thing at engineering school, FCA is the place to be. You will be a manager in 5 to 7 years and all you have to do is to say yes!

Cons

• HR • One of kind anti-science and Innovation Company in the world. • No growth what so ever. • You will get average yearly review EVEN if you solve a problem they been working on for 6 years. • If you good in physics and mathematics, they will tell you to “simplify” because they are ignorant and can’t understand it. • If you are talented, innovator, a lifelong learner and a scientist do NOT work here.

Pros

People around you make working for FCA a good experience. Recently added 4 week vacation and parental leave policy made it more attractive.

Cons

FCA has a very bad policy about salary raises, (or no policies at all). You may not receive a raise for multiple years and HR or your manager won't be able to explain why. There's no performance appraisal that can reflect annual salary increase. There's a system to evaluate your performance to calculate your bonus. But it has only three shades: low, medium and high. Most people fall into medium. And this performance evaluation doesn't affect your raise at all. As I know, the fate of the contract employees are even worse. There is almost no chance that their salary will increase no matter how long they work. So, if you are accepting a position at FCA, make sure you negotiate the amount you will still be satisfied with for years to come.

Pros

If you are a take action and independent person you will have plenty of opportunity to learn the ins and outs of a global company. At least that was true the last few years. I wouldn't expect much for someone starting today. I actually feel guilty when interviewing people and selling them on the company.

Cons

Leadership is mostly older and very behind the times. Don't expect to be lead by example or even experience. It is very much a culture with a lot of managers and very few people with technical expertise. Being smart and talented will get you a seat at the table, but don't expect to have your opinion valued. Way behind the 8 ball when it comes to electric vehicles and autonomous driving.

Pros

Please note that all departments, groups, and managers are completely different so the reviews will vary wildly based on personal experience. But overall, I am in a fully successful team due mostly to our manager. Our manager shields us from the politics of upper management and other groups and allows us perform our jobs without monkeying around in our business. Good pay, annual bonus, union vacation schedule, and great name recognition for working in a global company. Also, when FCA took over they cut the hierarchy in the management so even as a staff you are only 4-5 steps away from the CFO. Depending on your position and group, you also get very high exposure to senior management all the way to senior VP's and the CFO.

Cons

There are many challenges. Starting with the fact many managers are promoted on what they have done and not what they can do. They receive little to no training in people management and quickly get a feeling of seniority which they think entitles them to demean others and boss them around. When something goes wrong senior management only goes to the manager and of course things roll down hill to the lower staff. Certain individuals in senior management have taken it upon themselves to find and correct these issues but it is a slow work in process. The biggest complaint I here is work life balance. It almost seems standard for most to work until the earlier evening. It seems management confuses an employees willingness to work long hours as being equivalent to career drive and commitment. This is a dangerous precedent to set. Typically improving processes is a good thing, however here is just means that instead of going home at a regular time you need to step up and fill in for others who can't do their job. The big issue is the lack of internal communication which leads to many fire drills and stressful situations. Usually, these fire drills are the result of employee turnover and the new employees don't know what needs to be done until after the fact. This is where managers needneedneed to step in and help but that happens few and far between. Overall though, some in management recognize there is a problem and are trying to fix it. I would definitely recommend giving FCA a shot for the potential they have as a company.

Pros

It all depends on the department and who your manager is. A good manager can make your life better by helping drive the department to value added work. The benefits are good, the people are good (for the most part) and the highest levels of management seem like they do care about the people. Work life balance is not that bad. Most teams get 2 work from home days a month or ability to accumulate extra time off. Last week of the year is off between Christmas and New Years for plant shut down. Jeans are a normal for Friday's and only the old timers wear suits or ties. I've been in meetings were VP and CFO were wearing tennis shoes, jeans and a 1/4 zip. There is plenty of opportunity to move around and experience new areas or pad your resume, depending on what you want. Big company, so they pay for alot of nice things or help assist in classes. Like CPE credits, Six Sigma classes, harvard business classes.

Cons

Some middle leadership shield the truth of what employees think to senior leadership which prevents the higher up managers from really making a change to culture. The company is still very political. The promotions are based on political factors, not your experience or ability. They FIRE NO ONE. Once your in, its easily two years of bad reviews before they let you go. They would rather force people out. Problem being , if your making good money and you are bad at your job, why leave if you are only working 10-4 everyday. While the good workers pick up that extra work, pad their resumes and leave for other opportunities. This leaves the company with alot of "waste bodies" or people who add no value. A major complaint of mine is that some managers judge you by how long your in the office. so they promote work life balance, but if your not in the office 7am-8pm everyday, then they just wont promote you. This penalizes the more efficient people who can handle their work in 40 hours. Alot of promotions are just managers trying to get rid of their bad seeds. If they have someone in their group that under performs, they will give them an average review so that they can get them out of their group. These people get promoted to roles that they have no business being in. Some managers, maybe 70%, have NO CLUE what their team actually does. I have heard managers tell me "I'll let this person tell you how this process goes because I am too far removed from it". I worked in a group for 4 years where only 5 of the 25 people on the team were relied on. If someone left at 2pm, we picked up their work with nothing being said to them. They talk alot about driving change, but when it comes time too, no one makes a decision. Everyone, no matter how little the decision is, just wants to pass it up to their manager, who passes it up to their manager. Lots of wasted time waiting for people to make decisions. You spend 2 weeks preparing spreadsheets and PPTs and then you never hear about those again. ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT**** come in at a high salary because they DO NOT adjust you for the job you move to. If you are promoted, you get a small bump. If you move laterally, you get a smaller bump or maybe no bump at all. They tell you its "good experience" rather than pay you appropriately. most you get is around 6%. With around 5-6 levels of management between the bottom and the CFO, it doesnt leave room for alot of "promotions".

Pros

Excellent salary and benefits including medical, dental, company car lease program, peers and locations throughout Michigan and other states.

Cons

Work Life Balance does not exist, mandatory overtime and comp time (work without being paid) for salary employees. Hostile work environment for managers built of overbearing executives that try to exert fear to get employees to perform. Very stressful dealing with union and management. Male dominated culture. No concern for your personal career goals, managers will block lateral moves and promotions. I was punished for being a competent and good leader by being blocked from several promoting opportunities by my manager and the plant managerI was punished for being a competent and good leader by being blocked from several promoting opportunities by my manager and the plant managerI was punished for being a competent and good leader by being blocked from several promoting opportunities by my manager and the plant manager. I was told I was too good to let go!

Pros

Learning opportunities are more and good for Freshers

Cons

Growth opportunities are less and influenced by Higher level managers.

Pros

Good pay especially for entry level employees. Good work hours. Exposure to different engineering disciplines and to the environment of large corporations.

Cons

Release engineering is more of a paperwork job than an engineering job. Minimal hands on involvement in many areas. Management politics trickle down to much of an engineers' tasks usually equating to wasted time without much progress. Other companies willing to pay higher wages with better benefits after experience gained. Direct employees expected to work 10hrs/day doing the detailed work that managers do not understand the time involved. Management known to block internal advancement of both contract and direct employees. Long term strategy is not long term or well thought out... The consequence is the less durable vehicles the market has come to expect from FCA.