General Motors

GM pays very well. Make sure you negotiate your offer prior to accepting.

Their benefits are not great, but still good by today's standards. They offer tuition reimbursement, and you do not have to sign a retention agreement like many companies require these days. The 401(k) match is good as well.

Training opportunities.

I joined GM after leaving a very good position in a recognized multinational aerospace company where the culture truly is similar to the Silicon Valley notion of “anything is possible.” I was extremely excited to come to GM, mostly to be a part of the new technologies and “cultural change” described by several GM spokespersons (including the CEO) in various media outlets. I was leaving a top company for what I truly believed was another top company. This is how much I believed in what GM marketed to me.

I was told my technical skills and educational degrees would be challenged. It has been about six months since I joined GM, and I have been given no such caliber of work. In fact, the most “complex” task I have been assigned is to submit a Work Order and create Excel spreadsheets, and yes, my title is engineer.

I keep asking my manager for challenging work, and all I get is “paperwork” stuff that a 15-year-old can do with very minimal training. I have a Bachelors and Masters in Mechanical Engineering, and I do not use my education at all in GM.

I also do not feel safe at work. My manager has an aggressive attitude. He constantly uses bad words, and I cannot say the rest to protect my identity, but it is not good. He treats his direct reports as if we are his kids. I see my co-workers complaining all the time behind his back, but they are afraid to speak up. All they say is, “This is a good company with good pay/benefits, and I am happy to have a job.”

GM indeed pays well, and the benefits are very good, as I stated above. But I would rather make a lower salary with less benefits at a job where I can be myself and use my skill sets.

GM campuses (at least in Michigan) are not tobacco-free. All the building entrances smell like cigarette, even the conference rooms and restrooms. Sometimes people even smoke in your face. I have even seen people in meetings talking very rudely to minorities (including women). Is that a sign of a progressive and safe company? I do not think so.

This feels more like an 8-5 job. You can tell a large number of people hate their jobs, and they are there just for a paycheck. A large number of people do not respond to emails and some to phone calls. I have even been in situations when I have sent a meeting notice days in advance, and no one shows up. And when you go to their desks, you see them texting, etc. And if you ask them a question, they complain and point you to someone else.

Even at company trainings, you hear the instructors complaining about the company culture. One instructor even joked, saying that the GM handshake is "is not my problem - is someone else's."

GM is still a bureaucratic company where employees, mostly individual contributors, are afraid to speak up. It is true that the leadership is trying to change that culture. There are renovations in the Warren Technical Center and constant emails to promote a cultural change through collaboration. But I guess they have to get rid of a lot of people in order to change the company culture.

I am very disappointed at GM.