Prioritizing office politics over the right person - Anonymous employee Caterpillar Employee Review

3.0
Jul 30, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent benefits and pay package.

Cons

Workload is not distributed equally across groups. Some have multiple projects and NPI going at once while others sit with one project per year. For a company who supposedly champions work-life balance, the amount of micromanagement and expectations to be available after hours does not reflect that. The "Executive Office" (whatever that means) has made a unilateral edict to return to the office full time with no exceptions. Citing "collaboration" and "we are always better together" even though most of us don't work with groups in our office locations and have to have virtual meetings most of the time. Management refuses to acknowledge that productivity and morale was improved when there was a work from home and hybrid work model, in some cases almost a 50% productivity improvement. Who you know seems to be more important than your skills and experience when selecting candidates for positions. Seems that if you haven't played the office politics game you have no ability to move up in the company. Global service specifically has made the decision that they will not be doing any more promotions in place. Management has decided that rather than encouraging workers to improve in their current positions and grow in their abilities, they want us to move on to different positions across different areas of the company. This decision seems to be short sighted and has already resulted in lose of good competent workers with no backfill, causing higher stress and workload on those who haven't left yet.

Explore other reviews about Caterpillar

5.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company, very good pay

Cons

Nothing bad that I can think of

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Caterpillar Response
3w
Thank you for taking a moment to share your experience. We are glad to hear that you had found Caterpillar as a great company to work with.
2.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good health insurance and benefits, good yearly bonuses. The pay is good.

Cons

They are enforcing returning to office by any means necessary. They have lost many high-quality producers who have refused to relocate or refuse to come in. Here's the kicker - they are requiring in-person attendance at the Chicago office and there aren't even enough desks for everyone. It would be a literal fire hazard if we all came into the Chicago office at the same time, M-F, during business hours. No one knows how or if they are going to actually enforce this. Cost of gas is insane, Joe doesn't care about the workers. Or the work for that matter. It's obvious this is a soft layoff, they have made a bunch of people quit. Their internal design agency is falling apart, lots of people have quit, not only because of return to office but because of the toxic politics, favoritism, and lack of direction and accountability. Mediocre workers are allowed to keep their jobs ONLY because of their ability to put their bodies in a chair and work in-person. The other relocation option HR gave besides Chicago was Peoria. No one wants to live in Peoria for any reason whatsoever, be for real.

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