Benefits are quite terrible, especially considering our global counterparts and our local competitors. If I had known about our lack of real benefits, I absolutely would have gone elsewhere (where they value people). Here's how Henkel is failing:
- 2 weeks vacation (Meanwhile the entire summer good luck getting in touch with anyone in Germany)
- ONE DAY (yes, you read that right) of paternity leave for new dads
-16 weeks UNPAID maternity leave for new moms (bare minimum per state law, we're a billion dollar company and we don't pay new mothers anything... They get disability apparently for a few weeks. A friend came to me crying when she found out about this, and she's now put off starting a family. Children aren't cheap and most people can't take that time unpaid.)
- Outdated technology (if you know anything about tech, we receive the oldest and most bare bones laptops and everything is restricted - it was quite the battle to get Google Chrome as an acceptable web browser). We also use Skype instead of real phones but when you have a computer issue you'll call IT, they'll tell you to reboot your computer but you can't because then you won't be on a call with them anymore! I've even had to explain this to IT themselves! Yes, I'll reboot, but that means I'm hanging up on you so fingers crossed my problem is fixed.
-Health insurance is middle of the road (not the best but also not the worst)
If you're in sales, R&D, finance or marketing get ready to do a lot of other people's jobs. I was in a meeting and someone asked purchasing a question (about purchasing) and they said that the marketing team was responsible for finding vendors. (That was a good laugh at least.) Another time, I watched sales explain to a supply person production leadtimes and how to get product in on time. (Another good laugh)
Systems are pretty bad - a lot of red tape and a lot of mindless systems work to get anything up and running.
Digitally we are in the dark ages (probably why they give us old tech)
