Culture went downhill after BAE acquisition/rebrand - Graduate Engineer BAE Systems Employee Review

3.0
Dec 16, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working on technically challenging problems, which have genuine value to the world, with a lot of smart people. Nice "campus" offices, in a green area. Great for cycling to work, for example.

Cons

Soon after the 2014 rebrand to "Applied Intelligence", there was a major wave of resignations - including the former CEO. The company culture shifted to "align" with BAE - which basically meant cutting lots of perks. The graduate recruitment salary also dropped by £1000-3000, so pay rises for my "generation" were slashed to help bridge the gap. The company also introduced a "5 point" annual appraisal system, where all employees are ranked on a bell curve - which lead to highly biased results, where managers ranked their closest colleagues highly, and were therefore *forced* to rank others lower, regardless of actual performance. Hopefully things have improved under new management now; I don't know.

Explore other reviews about BAE Systems

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work life balance is great

Cons

Not much room for growth

2.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

BAE Systems has been willing to remain in Fort Walton Beach for so many years.

Cons

Lacks the cohesiveness demonstrated in other sectors and locations.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All