Pros
Benefits are decent with relatively low out-of-pocket Good sense of fellowship between employees Cafeteria on-site Good job security if you don’t mess up and you make the right friends On-site clinic, zero copay if you have company benefits 2 paid weeks of “shutdown” per year, which is time off in addition to earned vacation
Cons
Pay is well below average, no matter what your position is LOTS of turnover, especially with long-timers who took a lot of knowledge and skill with them, and nobody to really take their place Little to no interest in hiring and retaining good people VERY long hours, subject to change with little notice, with no consideration for family care (beyond lip service) Expect major guilt trips when you call off sick or, Heaven forbid, have a family emergency (unless you’re a manager and then you can disappear whenever you want for however long you want) Benefits getting more expensive, lower quality every year Best path to promotion is if you’re white, male, and have been with the company for years Nearly all management started as production line workers, with very little apparent interest in learning how to manage using modern methods - same top managers still manage like they’re line leadership - yelling and swearing at employees, and at other managers in front of employees General treatment by all management that, if you don’t work on the production lines, your job isn’t very important and you have no right to complain about anything - if you work in the office, expect to get pulled out to the line to run equipment whenever production gets behind. Then get in trouble when your actual duties fall behind