Space Systems/Loral Employee Reviews for Electrical Design Engineer

"I just couldn't tolerate the unethical, political, and negative job environment."

What do you like about working at Space Systems/Loral?

"*You get to work with some interesting satellite hardware and technology.*The compensation and benefits are decent, and engineering salaries are on par with the average numbers for the industry.*They have 401k matching that you can collect only if you stay with the company for five years.*There is a tuition assistance program that allows you to take classes or pursue an advanced degree while working."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"I would strongly suggest that you keep all the positive reviews of this company in perspective. I hate to say it, but many (but not all) of the employees working at Loral are just average in terms of talent and motivation and are simply happy to have a job. It's not the most intellectually stimulating work environment by any stretch of the imagination. I frequently noticed that most employees were extremely passive and simply did as they were told just to maintain their weekly paycheck. Many employees were completely unwilling to complain about relevant issues or to speak out against unfair company policies and practices simply to keep their jobs secure. Most of the young employees in my group left within a short period of time because they were looking for a more fulfilling job. Management maintains a work environment revolving around fear, mistrust, finger-pointing and discipline rather than positivity and accountability. However, Loral does have potential as an innovative technical company. One would hope that their work environment changes in the future so that they can attract more talented engineers and turn the direction of their company around. If you can be a part of that change, more power to you."

What don't you like about working at Space Systems/Loral?

"*The company culture is absolutely terrible, and no amount of monetary compensation or perks could make up for the horrendous work environment.*There is too much micromanagement; you will most likely have a bad manager who has poor leadership and managerial skills and often behaves like a control freak.*Loral cares nothing about ethical standards; the company often promotes workplace abuse, harassment, and psychological intimidation in order to keep employees in check.*On several occasions, I complained to higher management about a vicious, abusive manager, yet my complaints fell on deaf ears. Higher management kept telling me that You can't choose your manager.*Employees are not treated on an equal level; management consistently tries to shove its power and authority down subordinates' throats just to show them who is the boss, creating an endless cycle of mistrust and finger-pointing.*Managers often behave like secret police just to track and monitor employees, and to be ready to discipline you in case you showed up to work a little late or were briefly checking your email on your work computer.*The lack of ethical standards at Loral translates into the engineering work itself. For example, sometimes employees are instructed to lie or give misleading information on non-conformance reports just to pass potentially faulty hardware through. Loral will stop at nothing to save every penny that it can and pass every piece of flight hardware through its testing process.*There is a significant amount of dishonesty exhibited by the managers. For example, I once sat in a staff meeting where we were discussing a new piece of hardware that we were developing for R&D. A senior engineer informed us that a foreign space agency had already built, tested, and flown that product into space. However, the manager sitting at the table blatantly lied to us and told us that no such thing has happened, just to prevent employees from losing morale. Do you think it makes sense if Samsung lies to its Galaxy smartphone engineers and says that No, no, Apple hasn't come up with an iPhone 5 yet, it's not true Go figure.*This dishonesty is extremely prevalent, even during the hiring process. Several young engineers in my group were hired on the premise of a design position, yet were basically forced to be grunt workers doing a pathetic manufacturing support job.*The company environment is just too political. You will waste half of your time finger-pointing and playing the blame game, as well as avoiding the wrath of vicious and abusive managers.*There is virtually no design or innovation here, making it difficult to truly work in the engineering field that you wanted to. As an engineer, most of your time will be spent doing production/manufacturing grunt work, such as data review, supervising test engineers on the production floor, writing tedious and repetitive non-conformance reports, etc. The company simply doesn't have the money to hire dedicated production engineers, so other engineers are forced to do this work most of the time. *Additionally, there is simply too much paranoia over flight qualification and test procedures, and not enough knowledge of how to innovate or create value out of something new.*Moreover, there is almost no flexibility in work hours. The company is just too nit-picky over your work hours and will often discipline you for tardiness even though you may still be efficiently getting your work done. They are just too old-school and do not understand the nature of a flexible and results-oriented work environment that other companies exhibit.*Work days are oftentimes boring because the company just fails to generate good business and consistently win satellite contracts. Many employees waste time and try to work on their own schedules because there just isn't that much work to do. When there is work, it's really not that interesting or challenging at all.*Much of the company is in shabby condition. Very little money is spent to improve common things like the bathrooms, water fountains, etc. Even the IT infrastructure consists of old, slow and inefficient software tools to manage data. Important test data for satellite hardware is stored in binders that you need to personally go and dig up as if you're fetching something from your garage."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Please try to change your company culture to fit with a more positive work environment. It will help you retain talented employees rather than hiring one- or two-year rentals.Additionally, try to create a more flexible work schedule for employees. Stop living in the '60s and bring yourself back to the reality of modern silicon valley. Just because some baby boomers and other people of older generations worked endless hours per day and had no lives outside of work, doesn't mean it has to be that way now. We have new technology today that makes certain tasks quicker and more efficient than they were 20 or 30 years ago. What you fail to realize is, if there is enough work to do, then the work hours will take care of themselves. If you are winning enough satellite contracts, then people will work their hours and maybe even some overtime hours. You don't need to monitor and scrutinize employees just for opportunities to discipline. If the work is getting done, then DON'T nitpick. If the work isn't getting done, hold an employee accountable and make them understand the negative impact they are having on the organization, but in a positive manner. Using discipline and negative methods like performance improvement plans are just pathetic tools used to target and alienate certain employees. Cut out the micromanaging nonsense and give employees more leeway to think creatively and work on their projects independently without creepy managers breathing down their neck all the time.Also, you should try to support more innovation so that employees have variety in their work. Your company has no idea of how to innovate or create new products; you just rely on the low-risk, low-reward method of recycling old hardware. Eventually, this will stop paying off and you will need to create something new. Otherwise, if this is the path you choose, then don't hire engineers for design positions. When the focal point of a job is simply production/manufacturing grunt work, then I'm afraid it's just NOT a design job. Make it known during the interview exactly what you are looking for, instead of hiring employees with a deceptive premise and giving them a surprise afterwards.Also, I would suggest trying to improve the general company infrastructure. This includes, but is not limited to IT, common break room provisions, and engineering test data. It seems like everything could use a bit of renovation."