Supportive culture, good growth opportunities, challenging parent company
Pros
Fantastic people, genuinely good hearted and sought to do the right thing, while still balancing that it is a business and we have to be profitable. Great commitment to communicate how the business is doing and be transparent. Good pay rates and incentives...we all won together! Strong internal promotion possibilities for top performers. Many employees are longer tenured and extremely knowledgeable. Strong partnership with the Management Team and fellow employees. In general, we did not shy away from tough conversations, which is appreciated. Despite having older facilities, newer leadership has fought to invest in the business. I was able to lead a pretty awesome group of individuals and was proud of where I worked.
Cons
JPS related - Tough industry where the products that are produced are lower in the supply chain, and thus can be impacted by a lot of different factors. JPS is heavily dependent on direct, blue collar labor, which is increasingly difficult to find and retain (and that is true for any manufacturing operation these days...not just JPS). Steel Partners (Parent company) struggles with giving autonomy at the OpCo level. Rolling out well-intended programs, systems or processes without TRUELY listening to the needs of 12 very different organizations can lead to frustration and burnout. I expressed interest in growing within the parent company multiple times, but I was never given the opportunity to interview. My bonus potential was cut 3/4ths of the way through the plan year without warning.
