General Electric

The company is the only company that openly admits to employee online monitoring!

I think that says a lot for their integrity! (A++)

They maintain an amazing company educational course library of several thousand personal, technical, and up-to-date business courses, free for employees. They also offer tuition reimbursement incentives for educational facilities you may enroll in locally (colleges, tech schools, etc.).

There is an annual program for the performance review process that is basically making you keep your resume up to date, and the emphasis is to use the new "buzz words" corporate feels are right for the times, after you take an in-house class about them.

Their retirement plan is incredible and remains the best I have ever seen for a big business, especially as so many other places phased them out. The heart of it is 100% company funded!

I was in a target department during a RIF that was unfortunate to be involved in, but I also feel it was a wise business decision! I stayed my remaining two weeks making sure my project transitioned seamlessly for our customers. I am sure most people, including myself, would have simply left the same day at other companies!

The biggest downside is management always in a state of concern that they could be sacrificed to provide "the scapegoat" needed to satisfy stockholder concerns over company profits and/or projections.

Watch a couple of the movies from the 50s where there are a dozen "yes men" always following the CEO around; or even realize most of the comments made by Jay Leno about GE (partners with NBC) are not fictional one-liners – they are real!

Even 30 Rock is a reflection of GE conglomerate day-to-day issues, but with a bit too much embellishment.

Of course, they are well compensated for their stress, and most stay loyal for their entire career. So, is this really a con?

I would return in a heartbeat!

To management, I can only recommend weeding out the active "yes men." Don't fire them; just get back to basics on their own merits. Many of their predecessors have been guilty of this for over half a century, but I feel GE would be much stronger as a business in these troubled times, with the workforce becoming more loyal and projective as a result.

But overall, GE's management does a fantastic job.

Note: The CEO at GE receives a salary and compensation that appears excessive to the media and the public, often misled by uninformed reporters. But he really is a great deal for GE in the big picture and worth the price.