Pros
it is a relatively simple job if you know what your doing and you have a good teacher, no experience necessary to start as a temp. and it is physical labor that gets you up and moving. 401 k + 5%match, ESPP with a 25% match, paid vacation and 1 week paid sick leave. medical, dental and now vision.
Cons
Like the title says it isn't what it used to be, as Hoffman, the employees enjoyed a quarterly profit sharing, I am told they also were also paid for skills such as welders pay and other award bonuses for performance; they also could count on a pension plan. The overall culture was very positive. I was hired at the end of this. When Pentair officially took the helm, welder’s titles were turned to fab op and pay scale was capped for all floor employees. Pension was cut and no longer offered back in 2007 I believe. Now it is left to employees to cover their own retirement which isn't uncommon, with the 401k and ESPP these are great tools to help do that. But with that being said the current employees feel shorthanded in a sense because all we have seen in the last 10 years is benefits such as profit sharing and performance awards get taken away and this I believe has led to a genuine distrust between the floor employees, managers and the executives. They always want more with less and there is a fine line on how much less we can work with. Management expects you to be more versatile and work in other areas without giving you compensation to do so. For example, work in the market when you are titled a fab operator. I think versatility should be rewarded at this company and as you learn more you should be compensated for it as a floor employee thus creating a happier employee and leading to a better more willing culture. What I mean is pay the employee for the skills they possess not just by the title they hold. Maybe it'll create a more competitive work environment. The management team always seems to be concerned about the numbers over the quality of work produced and Good luck to any new employees because you will be thrown into it. It seems because of the emphasis on numbers, trainers have to do twice the job and therefore can’t spend enough time with the new employee. Although I believe it is getting better. It does have a long way to go. I believe if improved training methods were implemented there would be more retention of new employees.
