Pros
Working for REV Group has been incredibly rewarding, both professionally and personally. Try, if you can, to imagine the feeling when you see a school bus, city transit bus, fire truck, or ambulance roll off the production line and you know that you have helped in the process of making someone else’s life better and easier. There is nothing more gratifying than knowing you are adding value to society and those in need. The organization builds crucial and incredibly impactful vehicles, which improve lives, experiences, and society in general, and from my perspective that fact is more valuable than the paycheck I earn. I’m honored to work for the organization, from that perspective. The tight and closeness of the countless employees, across all of the various business units, has also been very rewarding and awe-inspiring, given the counter-culture that exists within the organization. Those folks are the single most important asset the organization has, and we need to get a place where that asset is truly valued, empowered, and listened to again! REV truly builds and ships the greatest specialty vehicles in the world because of its hard-working employees - despite itself!
Cons
As with most “new” CEO’s Tim Sullivan demonstrated nothing new or innovative four years ago when he assembled his “TEAM.” There was little regard, or thought, for those that had helped shape the organization into what it had become, and for their years of service and dedication those folks were trashed in Milwaukee media by Mr Sullivan and ultimately tossed aside for Tim’s Bucyrus cronies. REV has become the second coming of Bucyrus, from an Executive Leadership perspective, as at one point four of the top five positions at REV were former Bucyrus executives. Which should be expected in this day-and-age, but none the less completely disappointing. From my perspective, and the research I have conducted, I feel that Bucyrus’s performance in the early and late ‘00’s was more timing and industry related than it was an result of exceptional leadership and strategic development. We should not be surprised with the consistent operational and long-term sustainment regression we have seen out of REV under this leadership, based on the ultimate outcome for Bucyrus. Many of the additional positions that have been created and filled were never posted as “open positions,” but rather were filled by hand-picked by family members or friends of executives. Nepotism runs rampant and is almost favored, based on hiring practices throughout the organization. The fact that it happens would be less upsetting, if the people being placed were skilled or qualified for the positions they were being placed; but in most cases these folks are so far over their skies its astonishing. They end up having to hire multiple members to get their jobs done, for which they 100% take the credit and don’t even acknowledge their hard-working employees. For several years REV Group, under the current leadership, has misrepresented its position and development of many sustainment and operational initiates, in exchange for short sighted financial results. These results were achieved on the backs of the hundreds and thousands of hourly and entry level employees that gave 110% every day to complete and ship vehicles despite an equal lack of commitment to operational excellence from REV Executive Leadership. The motto for REV has truly been, “WORK HARDER NOT SMARTER,” when you evaluate the operational regression at nearly every business unit. It has been a four year case study on how to cripple an innovative and cutting edge organization, all in the name of short term profit!