Highly Capable, Underutilized Talent - Quality Auditor Caterpillar Employee Review

3.0
7 Oct 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay is better than working for a smaller company. Not required to work 2 weeks of days then 2 weeks of nights (No swing shifts like other companies in Decatur, IL). Health insurance is not as expensive as in other companies. It is a safety aware environment. Can contribute up to 70% of pay into 401K up to the federal cap. Quality issues usually get resolved

Cons

Nepotism. Pension was eliminated and replaced with 401K for Hourly Workers who were hired as Full-Time after Jan. 19, 2005. 2-Tiered wage scale. You can do the same job as someone who was hired under the old contract and they get $5 more per hour than you and they get the pension plan. Animosity between the 3 shifts. Shifts setting up other shifts to fail. People trying to do the easier work and leaving the harder work for the next shift. If you are a labor grade 6 or lower, then your upward mobility is limited. You either have to be related to or know the right people to move up within the company, unless you graduated top of your college class. A worker is pretty much stagnant in upward mobility once accepting a Hourly Wage Job. If you are a hard working, educated, farm-boy, you will be stuck on the factory floor. If a production worker is 1 minute late for work, you will be penalized the same as if you had missed the entire day of work. Supervisors can fire Supplemental Workers for any, or no reason at all. The company gives too much emphasis on 6-Sigma. I believe someone who is a creative problem solver can do the same things as any 6-Sigma Blackbelt. If you are a woman or minority, you can move up in this company.

Explore other reviews about Caterpillar

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great wlb and great benefits

Cons

none that i can think of.

2.0
30 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You are treated with autonomy, dignity, and respect. It is assumed you know how to do your job and are given the trust and means to do so. Compensation is above market value. Uncapped professional growth if you know how to play your cards right.

Cons

Working at Burger King and living from my car in Northern Michigan during the middle of winter was preferable to working on-site in Peoria. Project work was inherently meaningless and dictated almost entirely by the caste system this company has in Central, IL. My relocation had absolutely nothing to do with the role at hand and was a power play by management to get me to become a bleed-yellow Peorian in the CAT-corporate social club. The company loyalty here is absolutely disgusting and has nothing to do with the viability of the brand or product. Everyone is enamored with the status and wealth they've attained on account of not performing hard, manual, life-threatening labor. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually cares about what goes on in the defense division or addressing the geopolitical anomalies between the former headquarters and the new business direction of the company.

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