Pros
Very good executive team that usually makes the right business decisions and tries implementing good policies. There is always that general sense of security and belief that the ship is heading in the right direction, so people don't question much and focus on getting their jobs done. It is a large growing global corporation so with that you will get good benefits, profit sharing, growth potential, development/training, and the opportunity to travel/relocate domestically and internationally. The turnover rate is extreme so opportunities always open up and the company encourages internal mobility. The hiring process is known to be very long and complicated and it has created a lot of hype. So just having the name on your resume gives you an advantage for the rest of your career. Making it a very good entry level company.
Cons
Poor middle management. Mostly due to the company's hiring process which mainly focuses on blindly hiring type A personalities with little regard to experience or core personal values. The only path to career growth is through people management. So what you get is a bunch of hyper people running around in a scavenger hunt of random/any accomplishments leading to the next promotion to a team leader/manager. You read any company notice of someone's promotion and you are guaranteed to see a list of "accomplishments" that had nothing to do with what this individual was supposed to to be doing! That encourages future "leaders" to try and find someone else to do their job so they can spend their time on real "accomplishments". What this creates is a high stress environment, back-stabbing, elbowing, credit-stealing, blame-throwing, and lots lots of lying. You cannot trust anyone at Stryker and their annual satisfaction survey unsurprisingly consistently shows low scores on "I have a best friend at work"!. There is an intentional huge information dam between upper management and anything downstream. So middle management has zero knowledge of objectives or business direction. Coupled with their lack of experience and poor understanding of what leadership is, they make a mess of whatever good values and policies the executive team puts in place. They mistake workaholics for achievers. They mistake lack of work-life balance for commitment. If you resist going with the herd and blindly rushing everything without thinking then you are not a Stryker "fit". If you focus on your job and resist distractions then you are not an overachiever. If you don't show up at a 7PM happy hour you are not a team player. And If you happen to be an introvert then be ready for some serious bullying. You will be labelled as disengaged, lacking drive/initiative, follower, and the list goes on. Cliches like "there for you" and "quality first" are always used without any real practical understanding. To summarize, unless you are going for an entry level position, upper management position, or really desperate for a job, do yourself a big favor and avoid this company. You will be abused and tossed around until you either get consumed or learn how to play a losing game. That very culture they prize is the worst I have seen in my professional career and is in fact all hype.
