I got out, almost a year ago, as a hand raiser during the COVID-19 layoffs. Lots of severance, continued health care for the severance period, a lump sum pension. I'm glad I opted for the "new" retirement plan when offered years ago. My wife and I have about half of what we "should" in savings, but we will be okay. Companies like Fidelity and Schwab can really help with that.
I continue to check in here to see if I misread what Honeywell was like when I left. Except for a few posts from optimistic types, the stuff here rings true. In my opinion, it sounds like the company has gotten worst (stock price aside).
The Honeywell style of micro-managing and berating employees does not result in better workers. The gag order to silence negative talk among employees does not create a better culture. Think Orwell's 1984.
Executive management is clearly showing Wall Street the right stuff. But the score on the factory floor, the office and lab spaces tells another story. A story of scared, bitter, depressed, beaten people just trying to support their families. That management thinks this works in the long term shows how out of touch they are with real people.
Shortly after I left, I chatted with a former coworker. The names of the people thrown out during the cost cutting were surprising. I can think of 2 in particular: Both in their early 30s who had the right stuff. They were doing things the Honeywell way, saying the right things, and at the same time were genuinely invested in doing the best work they could. They were both first level production engineering managers. Both seemed to have the green light to become Directors, or perhaps even Vice Presidents some day. Both were tossed out like yesterdays garbage. It's all about numbers....not a bit of people evaluation skills involved in the selection process.
A while ago I posted specifics about my personal experiences during my last couple of years at Honeywell. I left enough negative examples in to make sure that the people I pointed at knew it was about them. The post received dozens of "plus" ratings, then a lone "negative" with a comment. The reply was exactly what one targeted person would have said. I never replied to it, so they don't even have the satisfaction of knowing I read it. Boy did I get under their skin. Bullseye. The targets were a coworker who had it in for everyone, someone who threw their best friend under the bus. The other was a tin solder manager. The manager started to become friendly again in my last month, but it was too late.
It was a culture of a few people that everyone hated, and many people who just suffered in silence. A culture where too many Vice Presidents rolled out one new initiative after another, not leaving enough time for the previous ideas to take root. The result: Chaos. Judging by many of the postings at this website, that is how Honeywell wants to run things. How short sighted and downright sick is that?
Thanks for listening. I feel better now.