Siemens

Siemens Industry Inc., an organization of Siemens AG, is a good place to work, especially when beginning a career. The resources and benefits available to employees are among the best; their size gives them tremendous negotiating potential. Siemens is a diversified German conglomerate that can allow you to move to various industry sectors while staying within the same corporate structure. There is a fair amount of opportunity if you are looking for leadership positions, training, and personal growth.

The reason we all work: compensation. I think they are competitive, but are not among leading companies in this regard. While benefits offered are very strong and salaries are competitive, once you are working at the company, there is little one can do to boost this. Their corporate structure inherently limits progress based on merit. I believe it has to do with the German/European business culture.

Culture: One may be very satisfied with compensation, but when it comes to culture, it could give some pause. It is an assorted group of silos. As a result, overlapping efforts and work duplication is pervasive. It's overly structured and fosters an environment of "helplessness" to the average employee.

I believe bureaucracy reigns, which should be a focus for improvement—at least in the Americas. When this is the case, employees get the strong message from policies and procedures that one should not rock the boat but rather accept the status quo.

Unfortunately, this discourages new ideas, innovation, and fresh thinking, which I believe are crucial to any company that wants to thrive in this new century.