I haven’t been here long so I don’t know, but someone mentioned that since 1989 when he joined Honeywell the benefits have slowly started to cut back. I wish there was some overview of how it all went downhill with benefits over the years. I'm just wondering what is the difference in benefits now and those 30 years ago?
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Now you have to jump through hoops to give someone a Bravo and the approved amounts are a joke. How excited can someone really get about a $200 Bronze Bravo that is taxed at 40%? Please. Start them at $500 to truly make them feel like a reward.
Let's not forget everything that got thrown at us on or around 2016 including the Band 4 MIP reduction, vacation plan change, not paying for dental insurance, etc.
Around 2010 our HR manager MJ said departments will no longer provide bereavement gifts out of their budgets. How cheap can you get ? Dad died in 2009 our family got a potted plant and a signed card. That was nice. When mom died in 2011 we only got email to my office. When my brother died in 2018 there was nothing.
Just a minor but telling benefit elimination -- matching gifts to your Alma Mater. Cote quietly eliminated this at a time when he was bragging about financially supporting students in 'Indier' (sic).
All you need to know about how management views their domestic employees they are so eager to eliminate.
In the 90s we had comp time at Deer Valley. I banked 4 weeks on year.
Couple of extras
At Airesearch you could fly you and your family to L.A. to go to Disney world for free if there were empty seats and there usually were
Christmas party at ASU with the company providing a gift for each child, and entertainment - Wallace & Ladmo one year which the kids loved
Christmas bonus & handshake from the company president for every employee, all three shifts
Spring picnic with contests for kids and adults at major local parks like water parks, etc.
Annual rodeo which was very highly regarded by the community and rodeo officianados with competitions for the girls & guys; outsiders worked hard to get invited by employees
Great cafeteria with chef
Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners prior to shutting down for the holidays
Las Vegas night with gambling for the adults
On site tool store with discounts and payment plans for tools and other stuff like stereos etc.
Various clubs that could use facilities for meetings and activities
Employees club
Great discounts for Disney world and a whole host of popular vacation and entertainment venues
Mnay others that slip my mind now, its been so long....
Many items have been correctly listed. Several additional would be the Christmas bonu$ typically handed out by your manager and the VP over your area. Many VPs knew most employees by name. When they discontinued it they even gave ever one a raise matching it. now going way back to the 70s Airesearch had a profit sharing program which was typically a 1% bonus put into a pool and interest was paid on it. When they discontinued it in I believe 1984 the company gave everyone a 50% additional contribution and the company found a bank that paid 12.3% interest per year for 25 years. Many of us had a balance after the 25 years of $100k to $150K of course by then say 2009 the company changed the game and reduced everyone who benefitted from it pension by like 25% to offset it. It was called SBA or secured benefit account. Also for salary people additional compensation was paid if you worked more than 46 hrs in a week. For hourly folks vacation time off was counted as time worked and OT was paid based on than now it's not counted as time worked.
I remember the announcement that DC put out, to paraphrase" there will be no more company sponsored celebrations." No point in repeating what others already stated. Honeywell leaders are cheap, they hate shelling out any amount of money to employees for anything. They use us for self enrichment.
At Sperry we used to get a handshake and frozen Turkey for Christmas each year, and they were handed out late into the evening by our managers wearing butcher's aprons. That was replaced with a gift certificate in an envelope redeemable at local grocery stores. At least that was also handed to you with a handshake from your manager before going away for the holidays. That was all banned.
Company parties - Gone
Halloween parties for kids - Gone
Employees paid $0.00 for health insurance for them and their family members. ZERO. Leadership apologized when they made us pitch in 5% of the cost of our insurance. That has now grown to well over 50%. There are still companies & governments that cover 100% of their employees health insurance, just not this one.
Pension benefits went from nice to totally gone over the years. There is no incentive to stay at this company one day longer than your first missed annual raise.
Employee buyouts are gone, replaced with "kick-in-the-gut" RIFs and capped severance packages. At least with buyouts all the money that went to lawyers reviewing employees' files for lawsuit bait was handed over to much the more worthy, loyal employees, along with a nice handshake out the door. Everyone (but lawyers) were winners, and everyone had a smile on their faces. We actually felt happy for workers retiring into the sunset and morale went up. Instead, today the only way to make a buck is to ask to be put on the layoff list, while saying to yourself, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done..."
Defined Benefits have been eroding over time, such as vacation accrual with years of service, as mentioned before. Eliminating defined benefits is an underhanded stunt of HR and Finance to sc--w employees even more while falsely fattening up the bottom line for Wall Street. Good luck taking 2 weeks off ever again. Your boss will always say, "No, the program is too far behind."
When it came to the "old school" bosses:
They knew your job better than you
You learned from your leadership, not the other way around
They knew what needed to be done and how to measure your progress
They wrote your review and it was quantitatively measure against your peers
You understood how you were ranked and were compensated accordingly
They did things you would never want to do and were glad they did it
They treated their subordinates with respect and would go to bat for you
They genuinely cared about seeing you promoted when you were ready and willing
HR ki---d the company and Finance is picking at the corpse.
Bank vacation year to year, sell what u dont use back for a paycheck perk up. Paid OT after 6 free for exempts.
Also many small things that together add up to make the workplace much less enjoyable, if not downright difficult. These I experienced at our location, YMMV:
- elimination of on-site HR rep, replaced with web site.
- elimination of on-site admin assistant, all routine admin work pushed back on employees.
- elimination of on-site IT specialist, IT services outsourced to external vendor.
- in-person training replaced with online modules.
- elimination of all holiday parties, picnics, Birthday observances, retirement observances, etc.
- cancellation of professional journals, trade journals, etc.
- discontinued matching charitable donations to employee-designated charities.
- office supplies largely discontinued.
Much of this has been covered but I already had the following list documented. There has been an all-out war on domestic compensation for the past 20 years. The HW business model is predicated on cheap overseas labor ... buy US companies, move the workforce overseas, and pocket the labor cost savings. I'm not sure why our society allows this form of parasitic capitalism, some mix of complacency, ignorance, and corporate takeover of the government.
benefits reductions:
eliminated retiree supplemental health insurance (65+)
eliminated early retiree health insurance (60-65)
eliminated lunch subsidies
eliminated long term disability coverage
eliminated pension for new hires
reduced educational reimbursement dramatically
reduced 401K match (temporary cut turned permanent)
reduced severance package (50%)
partial freeze of pension (salary component)
eliminated vision coverage
eliminated vacation time accrued via years of service
eliminated dental coverage
gradual shifting of healthcare costs to employee
salary/bonus reductions:
persistent downward wage pressure via offshoring
salary freezes
furloughs
lowered average block 9 ratings
increased average time to reach band 4/bonus pool
tougher bonus targets
The difference is so deep it is hard to describe.
More than money. people were family. All of that changed when the GE buyout talks started which ended up in the allied takeover.
A gym. Sports teams. Cafeterias with good food. Honeywell had a bank and a school on campus. I ate lunch with my kids and took them home from aftercare.
Honeywell should commit one percent of revenue to the employee programs at each location. This is a small price to pay for world class people. Look up Honeywell public revenue margins compared to our competitors and tell me we can’t afford it.
Ps: I am not talking about maintenance of facilities like protecting the safety of employees with roof repairs to keep the building from collapsing. I am not talking about carpet and mold remediation. People then buildings.
Severance was 1 week for every week of service without a cap. Now capped at 26 weeks.
Used to be able to buy or sell up to 5 vacation days each year.
Before this baloney about unlimited vacation days you would get paid for unused days when you left Honeywell.
In Clearwater you had a yearly carnival for employees in the parking lot.
In Clearwater you had a gym and a basketball court less than a 1/4 mile from the campus to use. Also had 2 tennis courts that are long gone.
Had NICE Christmas parties.
Used to be able to treat customers to dinners and entertainment like fishing, golf and sporting events. Now you cannot even buy them a cup of coffee in the morning unless the employee pays
Used to be 8% matching 401k. Now 7%.
Only high deductible HSA medical insurance instead of offering it at a lower premium, which is why it was invented.
You could buy stock at a discount.
They paid OT, then only if you worked 10 hrs. We' work 20hrs OT 1 week then none the next to max the pay. Then it was the first 2 hours were unpaid. Eventually, no OT pay.
Paid vacation that you'd receive when they lay you off.
Flex time, take Friday off if you had Saturday lab time.
Too much to list I would say
Worst is annual 401k match is done annually and no match if you leave before Dec 15. Also claw back on small raises with furloughs.
Retirement plan then . None now. Medical plan in retirement then. None now. Medical premiums then 700.
Tuition reimbursement 100% then. Now none.
Those are a few of the biggies