CAE reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(1,812 total reviews)
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Matthew Bromberg

47% approve of CEO

58% positive business outlook

CAE has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 1,812 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The CAE employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Aerospace & Defense industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
May 29, 2018

Simulator Intructor

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cae has some nice managers that make the employees feel better. That does not fix the systematic organisational problems and the corporate culture of only looking at the bottom line.

Cons

All instructors are on call 5 days a week (24/5). Do not plan anything during those days as your schedule might change several times a day! Be prepared to work on your off days in addition being forced to work "double days". That means working close to 16 hour shifts if they are short on Instructors... That is the problem. they are always short on Instructors. The new work rule states they will not force Instructors to work more than a 16hr day! Nice rule! They pay far less than Flight Safety and the benefits are below industry standards. This is as low and disorganized as you will find. Dont be fooled by the contract they show you. You will very hard for your salary. Actually you will not have time for anything else! work/sleep. Be aware and do not sign a lock in contract if you are smart. Most employees leave as soon as the contract is completed.

2.0
May 10, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Amazing colleagues on the technical level. You will have the chance to work with very smart and helpful people who are willing to share their knowledge. This is CAE's redeeming quality. -Interesting product. Flight simulators are incredibly complex yet amazing. If aerospace is your passion, this might be the place for you. If flight simulation is your passion, this is definitely the place for you.

Cons

-Emergency mode is the norm rather than the exception. There is ALOT of poor/optimistic planning combined with aggressive (sometimes impossible) deadlines. This often leads to panic, stress, and overtime. -Irregular hours due to site unavailability. Depending on the task, testing your software on the actual simulator may be required. However, as deadlines approach, these sites are often fully booked. You may have no choice but to take time slots very late at night or extremely early in the morning. -Very disorganized. Planning is usually done for the short-term. Everything is focused on meeting the closest deadline. The same problems are encountered over and over again. There is no long term solution for common issues. The process is rarely if ever improved. How this company managed to survive this long is beyond me. -Extremely poor work/life balance. This is a direct result of the previous points. There is a culture of overtime and stress here. Be extremely careful if are considering working here. Be prepared to deal with stress/chaos on a regular basis (the intensity varies with position and department). Unless you are very passionate about aircrafts and flight simulation, I would not recommend working here. If you have no choice but to work here, avoid staying more than 3 years.

4.0
May 9, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I find the work environment is non-toxic and very flexible. There are options to work from home as needed, and flexible vacation days and time to use for medical/family appointments. CAE has a defined benefit pension plan as well as RRSP group plan (no company matching), and a CAE stock buying plan. CAE is currently renovating many of their office environments to bring them up to current standards/trends. CAE also provides four company holidays over the Christmas period, which in combination with Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Years, allow most employees to take a two-week Christmas break using only three vacation days. Vision/Dental/Medical benefits are reasonable.

Cons

- Training and professional development could be better. Recently they have allowed some employees the option of doing online training up to $50 on the job and get reimbursed. However, if you want to go to conferences or do any training that involves travel, unless you are a very senior employee or manager, you're out of luck. - There are no set number of sick days which should be a good thing, however, after two days of being sick, you are required to provide a doctors note to HR with a diagnosis and duration of how long you will be away. I believe at this point you automatically transition into short term disability which is outrageous - especially if it's just the flu and you need a week to recover.

Viewing 1441 - 1443 of 1,812 Reviews

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