Thread regarding Gulfstream Aerospace layoffs

You know, they wouldn’t be able to “come after us”. You can say whatever you want. This is completely anonymous.

I loved my job, my bosses, and gave the company my all. GAC took my blood, sweat, & tears for over 25 years. My mental heath & anxiety caused a new medical diagnosis which triggers physical pain. I never put the 2 together until I left and was able to moderate my symptoms. Prevention was key. I’m not the only one this happened to. Berating, bullying and emotional abuse are (were) commonplace....again not just me. HR, nor ethics could ever make a dent in the problems.
NOTE: I worked in various organizations during my time at GAC. I wanted to learn more about the business and expand my knowledge base. Also, I though one organization may be better than another.

I would say “Run!” I don’t think Gulfstream can ever go back. Once they started making profit over quality, they lost the integrity of good Christian leaders who chose a job over their own ethics. This messes with one brain/ conscious...sleep deprivation.

I used to say I lived, ate & breathed work to include shower time. Leisure time wasn’t full of dread of having to come back, guilt, or constantly to keep on emails (so I didn’t have so much to do upon return & no one covered the issues)..

I do miss how thorough GAC reconciled Eng to the Aircraft to include software. There were Stop-Gates and Safety Nets in place to help catch escapements which I have yet to find at the other (2) large manufacturing companies I’ve worked for. I loved GAC’s management Directors would say ‘stop the bleeding’ and off we’d go to implement change to fix it. There were a lot of silos, but the organizations seemed to come together when they knew the results would be productive & team would hear their functional area’s concerns. I loved the comradery and seeing folks work together (the good ‘ole boys or club could get anything done. However, there was way too much tribal knowledge and nepotism/ cronyism, but it’s the South.

I learned a lot about lessons learns. Bad part about AAP was a lot of the ‘G650 Lessons Learned’ went by the way side, even though a lot of work and investigation went into the slide show. The company was so political. If it didn’t come from current leadership, then it was like it didn’t matter. AAP was moving forward making same or worse mistakes.

It is nice to see your positivity. I do hope someone buys GAC and gets the company back on track. So much has been invested...SAP, networks, training, buildings, inventory for fleet, etc.

Even if you are direct. Think of it like a contracting job; with much less money. No loyalty, no safety from being let go / locked out at any time, no moving up, no overtime, more taxes, poor health benefits. Heck don’t ever work directly for this company there is absolutely NO advantages that I can think of for doing that.

Some here said pay is good. It is. But someone else pointed out schools are so bad in SAV that you’ll spend a bloody fortune on private school tuition. That wiped out any financial benefit for me and my wife coming here.GAC doesnt recruit and relocate dumb people here. Smart people generally have smart kids. Savannah public schools stink and do nothing to prepare smart kids for college, so plan on a lot of cash going out the door to Country Day or St Andrews. If you value your kid’s futures, don’t move them here. Better to stay put in cities with good public schools even though on paper it they’ll tempt you with a good starting salary. Oh, and no career development is offered, other than lessons on how to a– kiss to keep your job. Then you lose you job anyway.

I would say,

"It can be a good job, but go in with your eyes open. And never, ever forget, "It's Just Business" in every interaction.

Work hard, do your job, but don't devote your life to the company. If there's a conflict, always look out for yourself first, because the company will always take whatever it can.

It can be a mutually beneficial relationship, but never forget when things get rough, you'll be the first thing they cast aside. Plan accordingly."

The VP of HR is a cold hearted narcissist who has designed and implemented the RIF process to be humiliating and demoralizing. Seems to be a trend that all the most recent LT hires over the past 5 years create cultures where no one is allowed to disagree with them or offend their huge egos. If there were significant turnover on the LT, there is a slim chance I’d recommend someone take a job at GAC.

I don’t think it was the worst 2 weeks of my life. I KNOW it was. I know how hard I worked and how much I loved this company. I thought if i busted your butt I’d be ok. That worked for about the first 3 huge cuts. Stupid. I probably could have gotten a good night sleep the past 13 years instead of k–ling myself for this place and ended up in the same dust bin.

So to answer the question posted here, I’d say to any future employee not to come to GAC if you are young and have a family. You will only be here a few years before you are kicked to the curb. Then you’ll have to move. Work somewhere you won’t need to uproot your family to find your next job because you won’t be at GAC long enough to get your kids through school. Oh and btw, schools are horrible in Savannah. Plan on $20,000 in tuition a year starting in first grade.

FYI: I don’t know about all of you, but I think I just went through some of the worst 2 weeks of my life with this RIF. So much injustice, ambiguity, and uncertainty after so much dedication and for the times being what they are. If you’re going to choose to work at GAC in this day in age be prepared. I don’t think there’s much you can do except do your best, prepare for the worst, and be lucky.

Labor union should be considered so gac can't arbitrarily pull this stunt. The workplace is already stratified, so what do you have to lose? Sure they can still get rid of people, just not as easily. Time for some punitive action towards the company. Being a production oriented, "company man" wasn't on the scope.

I would say management needs to rely heavier on making better decisions earlier on to prevent hiring and firing. Sure some layoffs are inevitable but there has to be other options. It seems like they revert to lay offs all to often when other cost cutting measures could be implemented.
I would also say they need to find a better way to lay people off systematically because the current system isn’t working. All too many times, good employees who bleed blue and white get cut while others who abuse the system and are frankly worse employees get to stay on.
Reduce the frequency of lay-offs and lay off the right people

I hadn't talked to the mgr. that let me go in at least a year. The only reason he ever darkened our door was to address a problem that reflected on him. I have never worked with such an assemblage of spineless people. Everyone is afraid of being cast into the great abyss. Wimps not winners.

I'd say "it's possible you may lose your job, even if you are good at it. And finding a new job in the area will be impossible if you are an engineer. So even though the product is cool (if you are one of the lucky person to be able to approach it), look away. Cities like Huntsville, the space coast, Seattle, Denver, DFW, etc will have more opportunities. Also growth in GAC is impossible, unless you are a c—s—er."

When employed at GAC, the job was fun and I was excited to have the opportunity to work on such great aircraft. They do try and do things for the employees, like the company picnic and lunch and learns. Also, they pay really well compared to the rest of the industry, which is one of the bad things too. Unfortunately, they do a lot of layoffs and had layoffs/RIFs every year that I worked for them.
The previous comment was accurate. If you get in good with the management and they know your name then you are going to be safe or they will at least fight for you. This is regardless if you are worth anything of value to the company. The techs run this company are bring in the money and some of the engineers are really great. On the flip-side there are many who are just dead weight and abuse the system. I would still encourage people to work for them and wouldn't mind going back in the future. Layoffs are a norm in the aviation industry and it happens no matter where you go.

In order to be a good boss or supervisor you need to lead from the front and not the rear. This is a concept that the managers at the service center can’t understand.
I hope the second round of layoffs are leads and managers. You can through a couple HR folks in their too.

Be friends with your boss. That's all. Don't worry about the actual job and being productive. Don't worry about being fair to others. And don't dare ever think of going to HR or ethics. If you kiss enough a– you'll become a director and then they can't lay you off.

Oh and the reason for so many deep lay offs? Poor management. There are a few good ones but most don't have a clue what they're employees do each day.