The culture at the Fort Worth site is the biggest challenge. Long-standing cliques and internal politics heavily influence decision-making, and there’s often a stronger focus on salience ($), metrics, contracts, and optics than on employee morale or collaboration.
Many “continuous improvement” initiatives like Kaizen events feel performative and can devolve into finger-pointing between teams rather than solving operational problems. There’s a noticeable lack of cross-functional teamwork because many groups operate with competing agendas instead of shared goals or misunderstanding their customers' needs.
Leadership frequently talks about employee engagement through HR check-ins and pulse meetings, but employees rarely see meaningful change come from those conversations. Bonuses and recognition also feel unevenly distributed, with project management and upper leadership appearing to benefit the most while many contributors receive only standard annual merit increases.
Flexibility is limited compared to other employers, especially regarding remote work. Hybrid work is the new norm again. Policies and processes are emphasized heavily, but common sense and practical execution can sometimes take a back seat. The environment often feels less like a modern aerospace organization and more like a small company resistant to change.
Reorganization(s) left employees unclear on the purpose or long-term vision behind them with an end result of reverting some teams back to their original state. There’s also a perception that some senior leaders, locally or from afar, are disconnected from the realities employees face outside of work, which continues to hurt morale and retention.
