Pros
- The Medtronic Mission, with countless examples of how it has impacted many lives - Perks and benefits that are highly valuable and not offered by other companies, i.e. no-cost college education, health/well-being resources, support for expectant mothers, 401K matching, cost reduction on surgeries in addition to insurance, and more (sadly, some employees just focus on their paycheck without noticing that these supplemental benefits can actually SAVE an employee money) - The Medtronic Mindset, performance ratings are based on both numbers AND behaviors (even though some in leadership reward mediocrity or don't hold their team members accountable) - Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (a,k,a, DEI) culture, even though it may not align with the political/social beliefs of some, it's tied to the Mission and acknowledges everyone in Medtronic on multiple levels, beyond just ethnicity and sexual orientation. - Senior Medtronic leadership's focus on strategic planning and finally realizing that Diabetes was putting a serious strain on the entire enterprise, hence the recent decision to do what should have been done years ago: cut the cord and have them deal with their own long-term quality issues, mis-management, horrible cuture and poor decisions. Sad that it had to get to that point when it could have been prevented, but someone with a strong decision-making capacity wised up and finally concluded that the OU was broadly dysfunctional and had to be dissolved.
Cons
- A total about-face on quality, and placing revenue as a higher priority. Mutiple recalls/FCA's that have been in place for years. An FDA warning letter highlighting a lack of oversight and inexcusable lapses with the most basic core quality standards, i.e. not having CAPA's, overlooking death reporting, avoiding transparent communication with regulators, etc.(Google "medtronic 483" and see what comes up first). Competitors have been taking advantage of this and have been whittling away at market share and compettitive advantage. - A long-standing toxic culture, with leadership that had no interest whatsover in changing or improving it. Trickle-down management, punitive treatment of employees, including front-line leaders, command and control, carrot and stick, task oriented, "just get it done" leadership. Mathematically impossible goals are expected to be possible, creating a no-win situation, but you still get raked over the coals if you miss those targets. One minor undesired result and you're thrown under the bus without hesitation. Rampant favoritism and politics, You'll be groomed for a promotion, regardless of your qualifications or lack of people skills. But only if you're a brown-noser, "yes man/woman" or people pleaser to senior leadership. But if none of that applies to you, expect your career progress to stall, even if you're an overall high performer. The byproducts of this negative culture have been evident for years: high turnover, low morale, low productivity, unreasonable stress. The kind of office where you look around and see that the vast majority of people there are just drones at their desks who checked out a long time ago. The employee surveys where leaders are obligated to come up with "action plans" but they don't deliver on them, and aren't held accountable to execute them. Don't expect to have your voice heard, you'll be told "just do your job" instead. - The company's directive of "put patients first" was inconsitently applied in Diabetes. More like "put revenue first". Patients would endure endless promos for the newest pump model while on hold for billing, supply orders or tech support. An insulin pump should be something that a patient has for an extended period of time, yet they aggressively pushed "upgrades" for new pump models like switching to the newest iPhone.