Ever wonder what might be like to work for one of the big aerospace companies? Comparably looked at culture data for five of the biggest aerospace firms – Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon – for the following comparison. We looked at Comparably’s employee-submitted data for overall culture and six other categories to determine which of the outfits is run the most like a modern company, with real concern for culture and diversity.
OVERALL CULTURE
In a frankly unimpressive spread of scores, Raytheon wins for Culture, beating Lockheed Martin by just one percentage point.
Boeing: “Empower employees to think for themselves and make decisions. Stop resisting technology from the 21st century. Eliminate bureaucracy.”
General Dynamics: “I like the actual work that I do, just not the political drama.”
Lockheed Martin: “At the end of a successful project, you’ll feel like you contributed to the security of the nation.”
Northrop Grumman: “Due to the nature of the work, it is a stovepiped environment due to security concerns. But steps are being taken to improve the stovepipes and efforts need to continue that way.”
Raytheon: “Raytheon coed softball league, one game a week. Good opportunity to meet people outside of your normal working group and we have a cookout afterwards. Same deal for volleyball.”
CEO
Raytheon takes another category, thank to the winning score for their CEO Thomas Kennedy. Northrop’s Wes Bush and Lockheed’s Marilyn Hewson were nipping at Kennedy’s heels, with scores just two and one percentage points less, respectively.
Boeing: “Good guy, always can improve communication.”
General Dynamics: “Places money and profit ahead of employees.”
Lockheed Martin: “She is an outstanding person and cares greatly for the future of the business.”
Northrop Grumman: “Wes Bush has lead a lot of growth at the company and is positioning the company to build defense products in an ever-evolving environment.”
Raytheon: “Straight-forward and honest.”
COMPENSATION
Raytheon continues its march to (relative) glory by winning for Compensation, beating runner-up Boeing by just one percentage point.
Boeing: “The annual bonus is great.”
General Dynamics: “I am undervalued and underappreciated.”
Lockheed Martin: “I’m paid fairly, in line with what the market will bear for my role/level.”
Northrop Grumman: “I feel undervalued because they rely on some matrix instead of actual employee reviews and contributions.”
Raytheon: “Salary is very competitive for my skill set in the industry.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
Boeing gets a win in the fourth category for Perks & Benefits, rating a five-point win over runners-up Lockheed and Northrup.
Boeing: “Good medical, dental, yearly evaluations and raises.”
General Dynamics: “They offer pet health insurance that I used. However, I don’t see them outshine any of the other large DoD contracting companies.”
Lockheed Martin: “They buy professional trainers and provide countless of courses online or on premises.”
Northrop Grumman: “Comprehensive medical, 401K match, employee resource groups, tuition reimbursement.”
Raytheon: “Nothing earth-shattering. Free access to a lot of Boston area museums is probably unique but aside from that it’s pretty standard.”
GENDER
Lockheed takes one this round, for the Gender category, which measures how women feel about the company and the way females are generally treated compared to other workers.
DIVERSITY
Northrup takes the brass ring for the Diversity category, but none of the five firms got higher than a C+. The runner-up here is Raytheon, but they’re four percentage points behind Northrup.
Boeing: “They are very big on diversity.”
General Dynamics: “Discrimination at its highest.”
Lockheed Martin: “Diversity is written into Lockheed policy. That said, it’s still mostly male engineers who don’t want to go home.”
Northrop Grumman: “In my software group of 6 people there is one woman. In the larger team of 60 I would estimate 1/5 are women. UI engineering team at one point was all female. Test team has only a few.”
Raytheon: “Definitely leans white and male but pretty diverse in some departments.”
OUTLOOK
Raytheon and Lockheed share the final award, for the Outlook category. That tallies a second win for Lockheed, but this has been Raytheon’s contest from the beginning in terms of culture. Counting this tie, Raytheon wins the whole comparison. They took home top prizes in four categories. Lockheed took two trophies, also counting this final tie for Outlook. Northrup and Boeing each took one prize, and all we can say for General Dynamics – rated lowest in every category – is “better luck next time.” Overall, it seems that these defense companies have most fervently defended older business practices most loyally of all. None save Raytheon seem to engage employees with a vibrant culture, and all the companies could use a new focus on improving gender and diversity imbalances.
