Walk the walk - Anonymous employee Panasonic Employee Review

Nepotism - has been intrinsic to Panasonic Avionics’ culture for decades and goes unchecked by current leadership. Ethical Fading – led to PAC being fined $280 million by the DOJ and SEC in 2017, our CEO was exited as well as other leadership team members. Following the DOJ ruling, great strides have been made to ensure compliance with laws and policies. Very little has been discussed about ethics and the importance of ethics as it pertains to compliance. If compliance is foundational to organizational health, ethics is the “land” where that foundation is laid. If our ethics are soft and pliable, then compliance will continue to crack and erode. Left unattended, it will fail. Lack of inclusion – What good is diversity beyond accounting purposes if there is not an equal measure of inclusion. Sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, islamophobia, bullying, and intimidation are alive and well at PAC. Reported issues regarding exclusion are often met with responses such as “(S)he is such a nice person! Everyone loves him/her! I’m sure that’s not what they meant”. Often, reports go un-responded to. Inclusion must go further than “International Women’s Day” to be fully inclusive. No Process – Lack of process has resulted in organizational silos being built, and it has reinforced unaccountability. Blaming and finger-pointing are commonplace, with many people saying, “it’s not my job.” Without process, we don’t know how well or bad we are doing. We can’t measure our efficiencies or if we are reaching our goal. This is why we are perpetually fighting fires at PAC. No strategy – Reorgs, restructures, and layoffs are routine at Panasonic Avionics. When changes are made, it is not communicated as to what we are trying to accomplish through those changes. Lack of processes results in the inability to gauge the effectiveness of the changes. Working without strategy creates the illusion of change without anything being accomplished. Imagine a team of 3-year old’s playing soccer. Things are happening on the field, and nothing is being accomplished. The fire fighting continues. The absence of vision from leadership has contributed to the lack of process and strategy. Without a clear vision, we are not sure what we are working towards. What are we trying to accomplish at PAC? Vision provides a direction of an overarching when we know what direction we are moving in. We can set a path in that direction by monitoring and measuring success through process and feedback. Panasonic Avionics is adrift and rudderless without vision. Careless leadership – in a recorded address to the company last June, the CEO announced that a second round of significant layoffs would be taking place that day. In the same breath, he announced our CTO’s hiring from Netflix and that we would be moving to a newly renovated campus once it was safe again. While hiring a new CTO and a new campus is exciting, announcing it in conjunction with layoffs was cruel and displayed a gross lapse in empathy, emotional intelligence, and grace. Change adverse – Maintaining the status quo is valued and exemplified at the highest levels of leadership. In a meeting with a Vice President, an idea to create a training initiative that would support a career advancement program was brought up. Without missing a beat, the VP said, “That’s a good idea, but that’s a paradigm shift, and we don’t have time for that.” There is a lot of talk about things that “should change” and “could make a difference,” but no action is ever taken. This adversity to change has stunted innovation at PAC. “Innovations” that have been touted recently at PAC should be recognized as a capitulation to market demands rather than innovation. At this point, PAC is surviving on inertia alone. There is fear to speak truth to power at PAC. In one of our last in-person all-hands meetings, an employee stood up and said that he did not have the tools and network access he needed to do his job. He was unable to correct issues that were costing significant time and money. Despite having gone through the correct channels, the employee could not gain access to the tools he needed to be successful. One of the executives on the stage roasted the employee, telling him exactly why he couldn’t get access to the tools he needed and that he would “need to figure it out.” At that moment, it was demonstrated by leadership that it was not safe to speak truth to power, even if it is to ask for help. More disappointing was that no other executive standing on that stage tried to intervene. This fear to speak truth to power keeps employees from asking questions, making suggestions, or even giving a complete picture or assessment of any given situation that may be less than optimal. Employees are taken for granted. The CEO and a VP announced the “Panasonic Avionics Excellence Awards.” The first time an award would be given to recognize the top 10 performing teams at PAC, with some impressive prizes going to the top 3 teams. The top 10 teams were announced, then the top three teams were announced, and then nothing, just silence. Hardworking and engaged teams go unappreciated regularly at PAC. We still don’t know who the winners were. Not following through on something as simple as saying “thank you” is a failure of leadership and accountability at a fundamental level. Career advancement is not a straightforward process at Panasonic Avionics unless you’re well connected. Nepotism ensures that the easiest way to be promoted within the organization is through relationships. There is no guidance on what it takes to move from a level one position to a level 2 position or beyond. Most job descriptions for the different levels are the same, and the leveling is primarily based upon one’s rate of pay. Beyond that, no one understands what skill sets are necessary to move up in the organization beyond knowing the right people. Leadership refuses to listen when team members provide input. Over the past year and a half, we have been asked to provide our inputs to “Culture Surveys” and “Employee Opinion Surveys.” Results from such surveys are either statistically incorrect, painting a rosier picture than what is taking place in actuality, or results are never shared at all. In either case, no action plans to address issues that are communicated through surveys are ever put into place, and our opinions and inputs are ignored. Asking for one’s opinion and then not acknowledging it appears disingenuous and inauthentic. It’s important to remember that leaders who refuse to listen will ultimately be surrounded by people who have nothing to say. Culture of unaccountability – The issues that have been mentioned above point to a company with leadership that says one thing and demonstrates the opposite. Leaders have spoken publicly and eloquently about the importance of “Grit and Grace.” Still, grit is easily overlooked because of nepotism, and grace is absent from the highest level of leadership. Executives have spoken about the importance of mentorship in building strong leaders within an organization but have made no effort to encourage mentorship at PAC. Talks on the importance of gratitude have been given, yet leadership couldn’t be bothered to complete an effort to recognize highly engaged teams. Accountability isn’t achieved in the words that we say, but rather in the actions we take towards making those words a reality. It isn’t easy to trust and respect those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.