Claim to be an innovative employer but rely on outdated, boomer-era practices - Anonymous employee Milwaukee Tool Employee Review

I worked at Milwaukee Tool for five years. During that time, I had heard, multiple times, about how Milwaukee Tool has transformed itself from a “power tool company” to a “innovation company” and other variants. I actually heard leaders in the company say things like, “We’re no longer competing with DeWalt,” et al, “for talent; we’re competing with Apple, Amazon, Facebook,” etc., trying to suggest that the company is competing with big tech for talent. It sounds like a compelling thing to say in an all-hands in order to inspire “LFG” sales energy without too much follow-up. But in reality, compensation is only competitive regionally (and stagnates once you’ve already been hired); it is NOT competitive with the compensation packages offered by the big tech companies they are supposedly competing against by their own admission. I wouldn’t expect it to be, either. But, where they COULD be competitive – e.g., offering more work/life balance, offering remote work accommodations where these big tech companies refuse to – they fail to “innovate.” They by and large want their employees in the office 5 days a week, and leaders insist, without data to support it, that it “improves collaboration,” when folks who show up to the office end up being on Teams meetings next to their coworkers that were forced to commute (in some cases, forced to sell houses that were purchased in the pandemic era and afterwards before RTO mandates were forced). High-performing remote teams are held to the same standard. In fact, I know of one team that was absorbed by a larger department and forced to return to the office (their previous leadership’s decision to let them stay remote completely disregarded and undermined); that entire team left within a year of getting the mandate. So yea, “LFG – winning!” As an aside, also, I thought I’d share that I once heard a brand leader literally say: “we drink the koolaid here,” trying to laugh off the cult-like “culture” they’ve contrived into existence and continue to perpetuate. Gross.