Lack of professionalism in HR - they are always behind, fail to respond to employees in a timely manner, are disrespectful to employees who are trying to apply for internal jobs in that they will never follow up or give employees any information about why they were not selected for a job. They give little regard to departing employees suggesting that they don't even care to fix reasons why employees were dissatisfied in the first place.
Gender Inequality/Diversity Issues- Firstly, Wacker does not do a good job of diversity hiring. Employees are primarily white men which probably partially reflects the working demographic of the state of Tennessee. Regardless of that, I have witnessed both gender bias(negative comments about women) and unfair pay for women relative to men in equal positions. I discovered that a man with equal experience to me but one degree lower in education with similar performance ratings was given a raise and making significantly more money than I was. I took this issue to my managers and HR and eventually they did give me a raise but would have been fine underpaying me relative to men in similar positions unless I had spoken up.
Management is poorly trained - Wacker seems to think that anyone can be a manager and they will repeatedly promote people without any real management training. This results in a hierarchy of poor managers who seem to be mostly self-interested (and frequently overwhelmed). Due to lack of management skills, they do not handle employees well and employee dissatisfaction just snowballs. Additionally they will allow upper-level managers to promote favorites who do not deserve promotions. If you're lower in the hierarchy, you will have little to no say over who gets hired to work for you. HR, with no real idea of what field experience is required for a position, will likely push you around to meet their end goals.
Failing polysilicon market - the company is in significant financial struggles right now due to the failing solar polysilicon market. Due to this, as people quit/leave or get fired, fewer and fewer are being replaced leaving those left behind with even more responsibilities. Danger levels of understaffing in a plant with an already blighted safety record. Additionally, they are very degree-focused. If you do not have the right education you will be underpaid or not promoted, EVEN if you have been doing the work of a higher-level position due to the understaffing/employee retention problems.
Pay is not great for the industry but not terrible for Tennessee based on cost of living. Probably too much money goes to upper level German managers who don't really do that much actual work.
Safety culture - Wacker's safety record is pretty poor thus far with one major explosion and several smaller chemical releases. They are lucky no one has been killed. There is a lack of uniformity with regards to safety from one department to another with each production manager seeming to operate on a level of hubris in which they are "always correct". "Standard" procedures are followed to different degrees in different departments. If you end up in a safety-conscious department, great. If not, good luck making any changes. Your managers will likely label you as a complainer and you'll effectively be black-listed from any future promotions.
