Utter chaos and incompetent management. Don't believe the hype from Skeleton's marketing materials and public image.
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Interesting technology, smart and friendly colleagues.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Shockingly high employee turnover, largely incompetent management, unprofessional practices, and daily chaos.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Stop making fake reviews on Kununu to pump up the rating. Do not reward employees for leaving good reviews as done in the past.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The atmosphere created by management is tense, fear-based, and lacking clear direction. Colleagues support each other the best they can, despite this.
The turnover-rate is tremendous and leads to so many headaches, as there are unfinished projects everywhere you look, from the unending stream of past colleagues who have left the company. This leads to an extremely chaotic atmosphere. Check the job posting board for Skeleton - they are regularly looking for a new Plant Manager, Production Manager, Head of Quality - nobody stays. The closer the position is to upper management, the shorter the tenure at the company will be. That should tell you something.
Kommunikation
Communication is like in a poorly-run medieval kingdom - decisions from on-high are arbitrary, strategic and operational direction comes and goes like the wind.
There is a monthly company meeting in which all employees are informed of the latest company news, but the relatively ugly reality is certainly glossed-over.
While I was there, the small office in Berlin was closed and the colleagues there were told they needed to be on-site in Leipzig within two weeks or would lose their jobs - pretty standard fare for Skeleton.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
The colleagues on the lower levels at Skeleton were among the best I ever had, true professionals and truly great people.
Work-Life-Balance
It's a lot of work, since the factory just recently opened, but that's to be expected with a new facility.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Personal fealty to top management is valued the most. Some incompetent colleagues survived for years because top management liked them and/or were too technically deficient to see how incompetent they were. On the other hand, serious professionals who were very good at their job were scared away by the immaturity of management.
In general, employees are treated very poorly by management. Providing feedback on an upper management idea or decision is a no-go here.
There is also a distinct lack of industrial operational experience in upper management - it's like a teenager got the keys to a Ferrari.
Interessante Aufgaben
The technology is interesting, so the tasks were always interesting as well, if chaotic. However, because of the chaos, there are many tasks that wouldn't even be necessary in the first place if the company was better-run and had less employee turnover. I can't emphasize enough how chaotic this makes the day-to-day.
Gleichberechtigung
Inside the factory, there were several women in higher positions, that was cool. In upper management there are no women.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
There are no older colleagues. I don't think older people would put up with the nonsense here.
Arbeitsbedingungen
The office areas are great, big windows and nice desks. The factory itself, however, is an accident waiting to happen. In the time I was there I witnessed a falling knife from an upper level, a shower of sparks from a short-circuited capacitor, a large steel structure almost tipping over when a forklift ran into it (I was told that all steel superstructures in the factory are very shallowly anchored due to the nature of the ground and the building foundation, the building was intended as a warehouse when it was first built, and not a factory. Dangerous situation).
Safety training and practices are almost nonexistent, and wouldn't help much anyways due to the chaotic nature of the factory. People get used to it, but it's certainly not safe.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Skeleton presents a very "green" image, but in everyday operations it's a different story. Toxic chemicals thrown in the regular trash because Skeleton never paid the company which used to pick them up (fits a broader pattern of delayed or disputed payments to Skeleton's suppliers and contractors, with payments only fulfilled after significant pressure). When the factory used to be located close to Dresden, I was told that toxic chemicals were rinsed into public wastewater.
Gehalt/Benefits
The salaries are good. Everyone in Germany starts with 26 or 27 days holiday (I forget which one) in order to be even with the colleagues in Estonia.
Image
The exterior image of the company couldn't be more different than the internal reality. The marketing team for Skeleton is extremely slick and does a great job, making the company look much more serious and established than it is. Colleagues talk very poorly about Skeleton, the overwhelming majority lowkey hates the company.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
Due to the chaos, you can actually learn a lot here in a relatively short period of time.