Pros
The building is getting updated and now they're getting a new lunch room area. Personal friendships were great with co-workers. Lots of training to learning Lean Manufacturing concepts.
Cons
HR is NOT an employee advocate. They don't stick up for people very often and most feel HR will not help but add to your problems if you voice concerns to them. The pay structure was changed and there are small promotions you can now earn but very limited in the amount of pay for those promotions you'll receive. On the floor we had 2 steps we can move to Assembler 1 or 2. This was $1 more only an hour. The expectations were a lot more and time invested was a lot greater for that $1. Tried to move up to the office area groups, but unless your close to the 3 heads of the facility you wont move up quickly or at all. Even if I did move up to the office area I don't think it would have worked out. Most that I talk to are aggravated with Watlow. They seem scared to say it out loud or have it mentioned that they said it, for fear of reprisal. Concerns they have are left festering for fear that if they say them, they'll be called a negative person and ostracized from future of promotions. Some long time team member told me that the pay-bands for these groups has not seen a correction since they have been here. Examples were given that the floor operators got a major bump years ago with minimum wage changes and competitiveness. The office group members pay stayed the same. Watlow doesn't like people that are good solid workers happy at doing the job they have unless they want to do more in life. You can be a great worker but if your just comfortable and happy with the job you have you're not held in high regards. you have to always want more responsibility. As long as you don't want more money when you get that new responsibility. Equipment is old and constantly breaking. Still, they expect your numbers to be great everyday. Can't make parts if stuff is broken around you. OT is a mix of volunteer and the most painful mandatory OT. Yes, I said mandatory. You can find out by mid-week that you need to work Sat. and if you don't cancel your plans or don't show you are written up for it. This is my weekend and if I have plans or tickets I need to drop my life to support Watlow. The last issues with this company is that they prefer new people over current employees. This is for 2 reasons. The pay is less and they can move them around easily place to place for a few months with little pushback. After a few months they have become old news and are now overlooked as they focus on the new person again.