Xylem is in the process of transitioning from a utilities products company to a technology and IoT company. In this process, management has vertically stretched the company (with many layers of middle management) based on politics and hiring of previous coworkers from dumpster fire companies like Nortel and Sony Ericsson. If you are lucky enough to have worked at one of these companies or get an executive/VP role, maybe you will like it here. Otherwise, you will have no incentive to go above and beyond because the cards are stacked against you. To start, no bonuses, no equity awards, no profit sharing, no ESPP, and a yearly “salary adjustment” which is just on par with US CPI inflation (2-3%).
Managers are forced and encouraged to not give out high ratings for salary adjustments because the standard merit is offered in a bell curve like distribution and is a component of leftover spend from a growth center’s budget.
There are too many people pointing fingers and not enough action.
HR will promise you many things during the interview and on-boarding which are outright lies or materially false. Just remember - if it’s not in writing, it’s not happening!
Healthcare plan is a high deductible plan which covers nothing. Consolation prize is given in the form a $500 contribution to your HSA. Vision is the lowest plan that EyeMed offers. Overall, you are basically a contractor with little to no benefits.
Even in the midst of a hiring freeze, no recruiter or HR positions were cut. Instead, engineering numbers continue to dwindle as does funding for engineering activities — not how a “tech” company typically operates!
The company has drastically changed over the past three years. No one stays past 5 and most people arrive well after 9.
Upper management and executives have one interest - the equity. Pretty obvious with equity based compensation up 50% YoY and refusing to finance the business by doing a equity offering.
Overall, staffed employees and upper management are completely out of touch. Instead of fixing failures, everyone is looking for someone to blame.
Marketing calls all the shots in the product development phase and is completely disconnected from what is scientifically and financially practical.
