NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Employee Reviews
Out of 104 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee reviews, 75% were positive. The remaining 25% were constructive reviews with the goal of helping NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory improve their work culture. The Engineering team, with 68% positive reviews, reports the best experience at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory compared to all other departments at the company.
Briefly describe your overall experience at your company
Exciting challenging work with a multidisciplinary team of brilliant folks
Review from Engineering Dept
What do you like best about the leadership team?
Loyal and honest for sure.
They want you to grow
They listen and are responsive.
Nothing as leaders. I respect them as technical folks.
Review from Engineering Dept
They prioritize downward communication often
Review from Engineering Dept
What does the leadership team need to get better at?
Listening and better telework policies and parental leave.
Pay us better. I know JPL can't do stock options - but we can do better at health and retirement benefits.
They treat ppl. without respect. Transparency rarely visible. Too much politics. Not much career advancement opportunities.
Review from Engineering Dept
Pay closer attention to inter-working of the laboratory instead of all the focus on bureaucracy. For the 20 years that I have had the pleasure of working there, I've noticed more red-tapes than less!
What is the best part about your compensation package?
Vacation and all of its benefits.
opportunity for raises every year
JPL giving automatic deposits into my retirement
Review from Engineering Dept
The retirement benefits are excellent.
Benefits, flexible hours, vacation accrual.
Review from Engineering Dept
Why do you feel undervalued and what would make you feel better about your compensation?
More of everything. Total comp at JPL is 30-70% lower than market.
Review from Engineering Dept
Need to encourage collaboration and provide incentives for innovation - less unnecessary bureaucracy
Pay is significantly less compared to other tech positions.
Review from Engineering Dept
We need policies which are understanding of the current economic and social conditions.
no raises, losing to inflation
What are some of the best things about your team?
People are smart and driven. Even in the face of such adversarial management policies they tackle the science and engineering challenges with motivation, new ideas and hard work.
good balance between experienced people and people newer to the field; fairly good sense of openness between team members (many people seem to feel comfortable expressing concerns, issues, feedback)
We're also friends who generally respect and work well together. We do have some more challenging people to work with though.
Review from Engineering Dept
The team is smart, inquisitive, innovative, passionate.
Smart and passionate people who are brought together to make a mission come together - great feeling!
Review from Engineering Dept
What do your coworkers need to improve and how could you work together better?
Many are jaded and hostile
Promoting fairness rather than becoming political employees.
Review from Engineering Dept
Unfortunately, because of the nature of how each project and staff on projects are funded, there is too much and unhealthy competitiveness than necessary!
What is most positive about the culture and environment at your company?
Institute is moving towards being more inclusive and transparent
There is room to grow and evolve as an employee.
The dedication and team working environment that is absolutely possible and coveted. It is too often torn apart by incompetent management and office politics. Managers are people at JPL who moved up over the years because of their technical expertise - it does not make them good managers.
Review from Engineering Dept
The people and the mission
Everyone has a can-do attitude and respects others' work.
Review from Engineering Dept
What needs to change to make the company culture better?
More transparency, better policies, better pay
Review from Engineering Dept
No consideraton of work life ballance
More communications with young employees
Review from Engineering Dept
Reduce unnecessary red-tapes and remove incompetent drill sergeant supervisors who micromanage the competent technical experts to death!
What did you like most about the interview process?
Meeting many supervisors, tour of lab
Meeting with multiple managers and others in the organization.
It was fairly easy and efficient
Review from Engineering Dept
Met many different people with contrasting paradigms
I never got asked to demonstrate anything.
Review from Engineering Dept
What would you improve about your company's interview process?
Enpower the people who want to hire to be able to hire! JPL HR is terrible - you have individuals who work hard, but turnover within the department is high. Job posts get forgotten, crap shoot on who you get as a talent specialist and terrible communication. JPL is amazing. HR and Mgmt need overhaul
Review from Engineering Dept
Interview process is fair enough
Review from Engineering Dept
What makes you most happy at work?
Getting to solve interesting problems along side talented people
Fun, challenging work and intelligent, well-rounded colleagues
Review from Engineering Dept
I am most happy working with my team.
My research and colleagues really make my day.
Review from Engineering Dept
Being productive on interesting work
Review from Engineering Dept
What's going wrong and how can it be improved?
Salary needs to be at least close to industry standard
Review from Engineering Dept
What do you like best about your company?
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What would you most like to see improved at your company?
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