Ford

Opportunities to be an expat overseas. Currently, many roles are on offer in Nanjing, China, for Australian engineers.

Generous holidays and benefits as an expat (4 weeks), and also RDOs.

Lease car.

Can find your spouse a job in the repatriated country if both are Ford employees.

With manufacturing closed down in Australia for Ford and other car companies (Toyota, Holden), there is a question of when the engineering research department will follow, especially with major projects heavily China-focused.

Promotions are closely guarded, and internal job ads are only posted for a very short time (i.e., a day) on the internal intranet, then taken down. There is no development plan for staff to be promoted, and the process is very vague and not transparent.

There is a high degree of nepotism, as friends are often given promotions to roles which have not been widely advertised.

Promotions are not based on merit.

Pay rises are in line with inflation. There is a highest-level performance award given, but no pay rise to go with it or bonus. There is no development plan for promotion.

Management (sent from Australia to Nanjing, China) take many business class overseas trips, and some do take their spouses along on work-related trips. However, there are always budget reasons or excuses for engineers to travel.

Management (LL4, LL5) get paid top dollars for the company to be represented in Nanjing, China, but spend half the time back in the Melbourne office, staying in 5-star hotels and flying business class.

Management (LL4, LL5) are often on holidays or at conferences overseas when there is a major build and gateway, and are needed for major decisions in China.

Management (LL4, LL5) can resist making decisions for fear of failure and rather have the engineers take responsibility.

The management should be more transparent with prospective roles and development plans.

Management should make decisions, not avoid them.

Expat management should be in China, as they are sent to be there, not flying back to the Melbourne office for meetings every quarter or two months.

• Management should be working during major gateways, not on holiday that they booked months ago. They should also follow the "blocked" dates on the spreadsheet that gets sent around.