Far away from corporate headquarters.
Denver (actually in Aurora, but tags as Denver) is very much "out of site out of mind" it seems to corporate. Emergency situations (a manager quits and somebody needs to fill the position immediately), or the quarterly "planned visit" are the only time we see anybody from corporate. Anytime we need anything (more people hired, an employee deserves a raise outside of the once a year (sometimes) "raise day", positions created, anything that is more than buying the small materials we need, has to be approved through corporate. However, corporate isn't around to see the need, so everything needed takes forever to get (rarely) approved.
High turnover throughout.
From entry level positions, through management. I have seen at least 3 different "GM's", 3 different Finance Managers (soon to be 4), 4 different production managers, easily 15+ production supervisors, 25+ Production line Leads, and hundreds (I would venture to say into a thousand, but I don't have supporting information) of production floor employees come and go. I haven't been here 10 years yet. This shows a TON of upper management (corporate) instability. People generally don't quit their job, they quit their manager. However, there are no stable managers, as every 2 years its somebody new coming in to prove themselves and change everything again. - Very hard on the people to do this again and again. Most of the seasoned employees lose respect for the management positions, because this new guy is just going to be gone in a little while like all the others.
Lack of opportunity for advancement.
Milgard Denver has periodically attempted to do employee training and furthering, but gives up on it quickly. From the "Learning to Lead" program that taught employees some of the skills to lead production teams, to the "Bridge Program" that gave some higher "Lean" teaching to Supervisors and Leads, they do nothing now, giving up on them because they don't have the time or resources to dedicate to furthering employees.
In the years I have worked for Milgard Denver, I have only seen 2 employees (Both of which are indirect labor/office employees) receive actual promotions. Denver will promote an employee to "Production Lead" pretty quickly and easily, that's just a small pay raise with the expectation that you make sure your department performs. Nothing to write home about considering the responsibility put in your lap for the pay increase. Every other position above production lead (salary starts above production lead) is hired from outside, not promoted from within. To put it simply, this means that if you weren't hired as a supervisor or higher, you will never advance to supervisor or higher. This is especially harmful to moral when a supervisor or manager leaves the company (and they do it often), and it falls onto the "lower in the chain of command" employees to pick up the slack and keep things running, to take care of the customers and company. Employees that aspire for more, will jump in and do the extra work, but are never credited or promoted. Milgard will hire somebody from the outside again, who will have to learn the processes, and will leave the company in less than 2 years, and the circle begins again.
- Dead End Job means you can't advance, Milgard Denver is a dead end job for anybody that wants advancements opportunities.
Cost of Living - Doesn't match pay rate.
Colorado has been booming over the last several years (Good thing) and the cost of living has increased, but the pay rate at Milgard Denver has not increased to match. Other companies in the area offer better pay, so we lose good employees to higher paying companies. It also makes it harder to find good employees for the lower pay rate, contributing to our very high turnover rate. This in turn contributes to quality issues, difficulty in hitting UPEH goals, and having to work long hours to get the jobs done. All contributing to cost of business.
