Rocket Lab

1.0

29 Apr 2020

Engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

You can pour everything you have into this company as if it were your livelihood

Cons

They build rockets to make the shareholders more money it has a fantastic business model, Rocket Lab is a middle finger to those who said little wee New Zealand couldn't do it. But it comes at a cost, Rocket Lab runs on the hopes dreams of young workers. I've seen work mates bullied in the office, abandoned by their spouses and frequent burnt-outs from too much pressure. There's no team building, huge lack of proper training and a cult-ure of young professionals one-upping each other. Most admit to feeling undervalued, disposable and temporary. If you are inexperienced you may be eaten alive and no-one from any position of power will mentor you. It takes the majority of starters a while to see through the smoke they blow up your behind. If you're not a shareholder walking in the door beware, the carrot in front of you may be moving. If you're offered the job you're obviously talented, but that's just the start because now you have to prove through song and dance that you're better, louder and more committed than your peers. Everyone's pushing hard to be rewarded, but all that seems to matter is if your manager likes or respects you. In the past I was lucky if I had a performance review within a 12 month time frame. Regardless of how infrequent, reviews are well versed "you're doing really good, thanks, here's something we can use to justify an insulting variation to you salary". It feels like a throat punch and not the type you need, much like your performance review it will be limp and uninspiring. Managers are too busy to lead, most are still learning how to be effective managers. You will need to figure out how to survive on your own and build a resistance to the low morale. You will start about 20-30k less than you should, you will not be rewarded, you will play catch-up for the rest of your career, consider that while living in Auckland.

Rocket Lab Response

Hi there, Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We're sorry to hear that you feel that your time at Rocket Lab has so far not lived up to the hype and excitement you felt coming into it. Naturally we do encourage our staff to work hard - we're the global leader in small sat launch and we couldn't have achieved our 100% mission success rate, which we are all incredibly proud of, without hard work. However, we certainly don't encourage anyone to ever push themselves so hard that it affects their family lives or their health. We always encourage employees who feel overloaded to speak to their manager, so workloads can be redistributed or additional support can be brought in. We also offer EAP services free of charge for all employees, to provide specialist support for anyone going through a difficult time. Regarding your thoughts on training, management and remuneration - we acknowledge that there are improvements to be made in these areas. That's why we are committed to creating more focused training materials and programs, including leadership training, this year. We are also currently in the process of launching comprehensive career mapping matrices, as well as a new performance review process, which will help us ensure that our team's skills and efforts are fairly recognised. Our staff are incredible people and we take great pride in knowing they are the best in the world. At a time when many of our competitors are making mass redundancies or closing their doors altogether due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have not made a single person redundant to date. This has come at a financial sacrifice for the company, but it is infinitely worth it to look after our people. Again, we're sorry to hear to hear that you're unhappy with the way you feel things are at the moment, but we are dedicated to change for the better of everyone at Rocket Lab, if you feel there is further feedback you would like to give, you are able to confidentially email us at peopleandculture@rocketlab.co.nz. We hope you will support us and stay with us to see the benefits these changes will bring in the future. - Rocket Lab People and Culture

Looks good, on paper! - Engineer Rocket Lab Employee Review

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