Opportunity if you play the game. Culture & bureaucracy are driving people away.
Pros
Employee Scholar Program - full coverage for bachelors and masters (PhD takes an act of congress). New parental leave policy - 12 weeks for birthing moms, 4 weeks for non-birthing parent, plus adoption coverage. Be aware that you may still get hassled by the old school leadership for actually taking this leave. New "UTC Flex" policy - supposed flexible employee work schedules, including telecommuting. Watch out though, it is brand new and it is only available if your supervisor buys in, and many old school leaders don't believe in this concept. New vacation policy - 3 weeks starting, 4 weeks after 10 years. Yes, this is actually an improvement (was 2 weeks starting, 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 15 years). Ability to "buy" 1 extra week of vacation. A nice option for new-hires, as the bought week is front loaded, where as the normal vacation is accrued. Still some cool engineering and advanced tech to work on, but be aware new development is starting to fizzle out, and much of the work is becoming sustaining.
Cons
The investors and the stock price are king, and everything else is subject to policy, process, and control to maintain the quarterly results and forecasts (short term strategy). Employees are pieces of the game, where the “human capital” can (and is) adjusted ad hoc to ensure the bottom line is protected. They have done away with the Gainshare bonus program, employee stock purchase plan, and annual merit raises are never guaranteed. In the past couple of years, the company has implemented several voluntary and involuntary reductions in force (i.e. layoffs), and the next one could always be just around the corner dependent on the latest quarterly numbers and the lack of near term new business prospects. In 2016, the US based work force was forced into a 2% pay reduction and furlough program. Culture - old school, "my way or the highway" mentality. Very risk averse, process driven, and leadership are afraid to send bad news or challenges up the chain of command. Corporate policy seemingly based on a 10/90 rule rather than the traditional 80/20 rule (i.e. blanket policies intended to protect against the 10, and the 90 just have to deal with it). Little concrete strategy from senior leadership as to how to deal with changing market conditions, little near-term new business, and the ever shrinking list of customers. Restrictive HR policies prevent negotiation for new-hire and internal offers, and there is significant distrust with that group due to poor communication, political behavior, and secretive performance management tools and programs. Major retention problem – experienced baby boomers are advancing their retirements, highly motivated and skilled 10-15 year succession plan employees are leaving in droves, and new 1-5 year high-potential employees are jumping out after only a few years. Local executives responding to the retention problems by actually saying "they're all traitors and not suitable for being UTC employees anyways". That type of response is very telling of the culture, particularly when spoken about loyal employees driven away by a poor business environment, meanwhile refusing to acknowledge the need for a change solution. Red tape, red tape, red tape. One can't get anything done without 10+ different approvers locally, and even more at the corporate level (seriously, it can take 25+ signatures to get ANYTHING approved, and EVERYTHING requires some form of approval). Local executives are rarely aligned with each other and don't back each other up, and that is felt at every level below them. Poor linkage between local and corporate levels. Again, very risk averse, little autonomy, and “CYA” mentality. Medical benefits - Be aware that they now only offer high deductible plans with LUDICROUSLY HIGH deductibles and max out-of-pocket (OOP). An optional HSA is available as well, but there is no UTC contribution to the HSA, and the IRS maximum annual contribution to HSA’s is less than the lowest OOP plan (i.e. it is wise to budget not only the HSA contributions, but also the delta between max OOP and the max IRS HSA amount…a significant hit to the take-home). As an example, the most cost effective “employee+family” plan in 2017 (assuming “normal” medical expenses) features $68/paycheck premiums (not so bad) along with a $13,100 max OOP (yikes!!), all of which must be paid out of pocket at straight-up negotiated rates direct to your doctor/hospital/pharmacy/etc prior to the plan paying out 100%. For most “normal/healthy” users, that number is nearly impossible to achieve in a typical year and thus the employee (not the company/insurance) is always paying out of pocket either via HSA or checkbook…hardly a “benefit”.
