There's is a ton of negative vibes here. There is a ton of GE bashing on this forum right now (technically, always)...
As a change of pace, tell us what keeps you working at GE.
Why have you not quit yet and gone elsewhere to work?
This is a frank question - I am not trolling and would like to hear sincere opinions of my GE peers.
Nothing keeps me now. I just accepted a job offer from MHPS, and am buggering off to Florida. Sayonara and good luck!
I'm moving to another country and they have good opportunities in this country.
Otherwise, I would have been gone since a couple of months.
Flexible hours, great pay, I like the team I work with as well as the work I do. I think you'll find that those of us who are negative toward the company are negative because we want to see meaningful change to make the company better.
"GE is a great company" [3pyz] are you freaking serious? No, no, no .. this statement could not be further from the truth. Do you live under a rock ? Why don't you post your positive BS on the GE linkedin page or better yet on GE's twitter page. The thing I like about this forum is the pure honesty and frank truth about the company. The GE leadership needs to hear the real truth otherwise there is no GE company.
Ge is a great company. We’re in a slump right now. As long as we all play our part we can get it back to what it once was. Ge has provide a great life for me and my family im sure for many of you all also. It s---s that some of our colleagues are getting cut. I look at as its business. All we can do is help them get back on there feet by keeping the network channel open. Keep you head down and power through.
MOST DAYS I ASK MYSELF THE SAME THING. THE ANSWER IS FLEXIBILITY, NON-STRESSFUL ROLE, SHORT COMMUTE, GOOD PAY. NOT SURE IT IS ENOUGH ANY MORE WITH THE 401K CHANGE, INCREASING HEALTHCARE, CONSTANTLY WONDERING IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN THE NEXT ROUND OF LAYOFFS, POOR MANAGER AND MANAGEMENT..................
There is nothing keeping me at GE anymore. We are not treated like valued professionals and so I am starting a job search now. I recommend everyone do the same. Raises and bonus will disappear and I am personally tired of going above and beyond and getting less and less every year. GE is always telling us we are in charge of our own careers and it's time to take their advice and take our talents to companies that appreciate them!
Salary is ok but benefits are(where) great. Paternal leave is excellent, permissive vacation is great (good job GE on being forward looking), company contribution and match for my 401k is decent, 100% tuition reimbursment for applicable graduate degrees (engineering, business, etc) is almost unheard of these days, dental and vision paid for (not in 2018), and comparable health insurance rates. In 2018 GE employees will have to pay for vision and dental and healthcare premiums are increasing. For me, combined it will be an increase of 9-10%. The pathetic annual salary increase will be well below this, couple that with cost of living increases and my family is a good bit less off in 2018. With the grim outlook, I'm thinking bonuses will be a no go so I will likely be looking at external opportunities after a good number of years with the company.
I took the Digital VJRP and will always look back happily on my 16 years at GE. S---s how it had to end, but it ended - and yeah, it's a cliche, but the people were the reason I stayed. Amazing talent, a true global focus and solid leadership in the IT space until the current regime took over... I wish all my ex-colleagues the best and am sad to see how things are going down.
Inertia.
Awe, you're tho Nithe Howard! I truly enjoy your plump talleywhacker, and that is the reason I stay at GE!
Hey we don't want war and peace or to read about your life story. Summarise.
Mortgage. Salary is 90% percentile, sure that will change as the company leans and gets meaner. I have some great friends who I didn't know 18 years ago. People who I trust who are not interested in the politics and meaningless changes especially in behaviours who just come to work and do a good job.
The OP's post is a valid one so I'll give it a try. I appreciate this change of pace and hope I can do it justice. This will be a long post so please forgive this engineer's wordiness.
I am ex-Westinghouse Engineering Service, ex-ABB Service, ex-Waukesha/SPX, ex-Areva, and legacy Alstom. I left Westinghouse in 1998 because I didn't want to work for Siemens; but the rest were through a seemingly long run of acquisitions. I didn't choose to work for GE but I am putting forth the same effort and work ethic that has served me well for almost 40 years. I am now one of the few ofnthe remaining survivors of my office's closing - effective today, Sept. 29 and I have worked with that team for 15 years. GE's decision to close a productive office only to hand over their on-going projects to idle workers in another location is a very bitter pill to swallow and is beyond me.
Now on to the topic at hand. I don't like to work with, nor do I surround myself with, nay-sayers and sour-pusses that complain about "the company" but I don't ignore what they are saying either - especially the tenured employees. I prefer to work with those who, in light of the current corporate stupidity, continue to put forth their best efforts on their project(s) and wish to serve their customer because they are consummate professionals and their work ethic is similar to mine. I enjoy working with a seasoned engineer in Oakbrook Terrace (Chicago), and another - younger but very capable engineer in the Jackson, MS office that do see what corporate is doing but keep soldiering on. These engineers are consummate professionals that are a blessing to me even though I am legacy Alstom and work remote from my home. I honestly enjoy working with these engineers.
I don't know if I will remain with GE (layoff, retirement, or new job) but as long as I am here I want to be faithful to the job and to those I share project responsibilities with.
So what keeps me here with GE? I have no allegiance to this company so what else is there? The people that I work with that's what.
It used to be the pension for old timers.
I left because our division had a great year and I got an average review and raise that got eaten up by benefit contribution on my part. Every year, I kept getting further and further behind unless I looked for new opportunities within GE. Yes, I could move to a new position and get a bump in salary to increase pay but it usually meant more hours and b---s---.
GE would roll out some new system such as PLM, that added hours and hours to my work week. Folks in places like India would work on replacement systems to get rid very efficient software like PEGASUS. The result was new system that did the same things as PEGASUS but the lost productivity was huge in the added hours it took for a resource to get their job done. Meaning, it now took ~20% more time to do the same tasks. Some idiot would book keep the savings and claim six sigma process improvements and get promoted to move on to another job to start the same sh_t in some other area. All these d_ck heads do is f_cK up every efficient process GE had...but they are business leader. Do you get it....?
Well, I complained for 3 years, quit as soon as I found opportunity outside. No regrets so far about quitting
The money, and because that's the main reason for me to get up and come in to this lunacy everyday I am looking at what else is out there.
Definitely first class individual contributors. People return phone calls and emails with answers. People act with integrity and (for the most part) candor. Boundarylessness. :)
I'm honored to work with the people in our group. All of them have considerable strengths in different areas, and we accomplish a lot together. That's one reason why the coming round of layoffs are so hard on us. Regardless of whether I get directly affected or not, someone I care about will be. And all for a temporary savings. We will become less effective as our team is dismantled.
most people at GE are exceptional.
you are not going to find anywhere else.
just compare our board here (fairly civilized, rather meaningful discussion / topics) to all other companies that have thriving boards (the list is on the front page) - we are different...