machine operator

mechanic

maintenance electrician

production operator

maintenance technician

Prysmian Group

What is the best part of working at the company?
Some excellent caring leaders who were concerned with their people.  I met leaders who tried not only to be fair to their workers but generally cared about them.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I worked in human resources and we were a mess.  We did not help the employees or the manufacturing leaders, were less than ethical, were poorly organized, and created chaos. We complimented these weaknesses with a scornful attitude toward others.  
I tried to ease tensions, serve the employees, and deal honestly with leaders. I tried to build a working caring team.   I lacked the aggressive fighting attitude others had.  I chose not to do things without knowing clearly how to do the work.  These traits created major conflicts from the way the Human Resource leader wanted me to act.  I worked crazy hours and was held in scorn for working so hard.  There was a clear personality difference with my leader which made life very tough.  Frankly, I was killing myself trying to conform to what my leader wanted so the termination may have been good.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The company had a great product but did not seem to value their hourly employees.  We needed to train them more, support them, and pay them a little better.  I was amazed at how highly intelligent leaders could so badly fail to understand the tensions they were creating.  
We had a massive turnover problem, in the space of three years we lost 100% of the hourly workforce.  This anomoly occurred becuase we lost over 25% of our workers in the first 45 days and lost 73% of the people who were going to quit within one year.  Hence, we would hire people start to train them, make their life unpleasant, and they would flee.  I talked to workers, asking them if anyone had encouraged them to stay and with one exception, the answer was no.  If we could have encouraged them to stay, paid them a little bit better, provided mentors and showed we cared, we could have resolved our massive employee problem.  With willing workers who had a future, we would have been able to produce more, since they would stay long enough to master their work and would desire to handle more complicated work.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would sleep fitfully, get up at 6:15, prepare for work, try to relax, then drive in.  I would stand in the parking lot to enjoy the warm North Carolina sun. I watched one shift of workers come in and another shift leave.  I would exsmine the exhaustion of the 12-hour shift workers going home and see the less than enthusiastic workers coming in.  I would talk and try to encourage the tired workers  leaving.  Before I got to my office I would read the papersin the box outside the office, then enter and read the emails.  The day went downhill after that.  I would read the confusing angry comments in emails, the scornful comments of a co-worker and would know it would be a long day.  My brightest moments would be talking with one co-worker who trained me, helping a confused worker, or ensuring that the daily required tasks were done.  I would seek to find a way to resolve the anger I faced.  I knew I would be there from ten to twelve and a half hours so I tried to work thoroughly and quickly to achieve something of value.  I wanted to keep everything clean and in order so I would try to write up my processes and determine what instructions I had received that made sense so I could follow them.

Ho boy, where to start with this place! Mostly, your time here will greatly depend on who you work for in which section. For example, I work for maintenance, and the other maintenance mechanics are some of the hardest working people that I've ever meet. Many of these young mechanics are so tired of being dragged through the dirt and talked down to; yet, they get up each day and come back in and do the best that they can despite having no active leadership. At least, no leadership that cares about them as an individual or a human.

The management and supervision is...abundant. They absolutely love letting you know when you make a small mistake; however, they always overlook when you go above and beyond for them. For example, we have been installing a new section in one area of the plant and there have been a few occasions where I have worked through a break in order to finish one thing up or another; however, just yesterday, I stayed over on a break by ten minuets in order to talk to the school about my son's medicine for this coming school year and they wrote me up! I'm forty! I've been working as a mechanic for over twenty years and I HAVE NEVER BEEN WRITTEN UP EVER! I explained my situation and the maintenance supervision just looks at me and says, "I do not know why you where over on your break, it doesn't matter, because the issue is that you were over on your break and that is the end of it. Are you going to sign the disciplinary action form or not?"

My advice to anyone that is thinking of working here, make sure that you have no other options first. This place, in the hourly section, would, in my opinion, be difficult to make into a career without loosing something of yourself. If you want to know what it is truly like working for Draka Elevator Products in Rocky Mount, simply research what it was like working for the soviet union at the height of it's bureaucracy.

The company itself is ok. For the area it is decent pay. The benefits aren't that great leaving you responsible for all your coverages and if you use tobacco in any form and have their insurance you will pay $1200 a year to continue to use whatever product it is you use.  
Work life balance is almost non-existent. You work nights and sleep on your days off to catch up. Don't make any plans as you will either work Friday night or Saturday night.  Work schedule as follows. Tuesday Wednesday work Thursday, Friday off, Saturday, Sunday, Monday work and so on. Lots of overtime throughout.  I'm not actually a part of production but I hear the expectations up the line can be outta this world sometimes.  A lot of older equipment is used. Machines from the 50's I've been told. There's no structure in the shipping department told one thing do another. Do as I say not as I do company. They push numbers. Claim safety but will also throw you to the wolves and make it your fault if you get hurt. Once you're hurt they make you the bad guy. If you work night shipping get ready to work your butt off. Does make the night fly most times. Some management know what they know and know it well but don't know much outside of that.  In shipping directly, as a shipper you're expected to do 7-8 different jobs with only 4 people. If they all show up. If not you're on your own or they will send someone with minimal or no knowledge of the job. The company as a whole could be better. Seen a lot worse but I guess I'd say prysmian is kinda on the fence trying to pick a side. 

A typical workday will start off with you starting up one of the many poorly maintained production machines. As the machine struggles  you will be expected to use whatever hodge podge of broken and or poorly kept tools you find to keep your machine running at all costs. If you should have any questions at all, remember everything was taught to you as per the training sheet you were made to sign at the end of your obligatory/futile training period. Remember chin up though if you are feeling down and have any meaningful concern feel free to bring your concern to one of our many supervisors for a bit of arrogant sarcasm to fully set in the fact that all that matters is that the machine keeps running! Like overtime? we all do from time to time and it is to be expected after all ,however the OT is posted with sometimes only a days notice and is almost always a copy paste as management cannot be bothered to take responsibility for it and will use it most times to cover a possible call off or absolutely nothing and instead will just have you forced in as an extra hand with nothing that constitutes mandatory OT. Unfortunately this all only scratches the surface ,between the broken and or malfunctioning equipment down to bathrooms that look like warzones because they are not properly maintained to the over all lackadaisical management it is clear Prysmian Williamsport is piggy backing on the excellence and respect its prior owners demanded and built a legacy on , and that leg up however is fading as the turn over rate is astronomical . Unfortunate really because the work its self would not be terrible outside of these factors.

I have never worked for such a soul sucking company like this in my life. ALL managers are simply clueless about the making and producing of their product. Most have never even preformed work out in the plant, clueless to how it's done but yet is the ones whom will belittle you, if they THINK you are not performing 100%. And let me add... they don't belittle you confidentially, they do it in front of co-workers. All employees walk around with sour faces, poor attitudes and most are trouble makers. The managers know about the trouble makers, but yet they still work there. There attendance policy is ridiculous , 3 days allowed for sick AND personal. They have a no excused  attendance policy. They do have quarterly bonuses but most never receive it due to write ups because of attendance. This also is the case with raises. When 75% of your company is on corrective action for attendance, doesn't reflect on the employees it reflects on the companies policy. We are expected to be like robots. And on top of that.. It ISN'T explained to you in your interview, nor orientation about how the write ups work. You are told by a manger upon your verbal warning, which isn't explained correctly according to HR manager but you are the one who loses out because of incorrect information from management. They are not held accountable for giving you false information, instead you are the one who won't be getting quarterly bonuses nor a raise and possibly terminated. This company basically makes up rules as they go. Some it applies to some it doesn't.

I worked at Prysmian for close to 5 years. I would say I gave my all the company and stood out as one of their hardest workers.

But with saying that. Prysmian Group doesn't really care if you're a hard worker or not. What do I mean by that. They basically abuse the hard workers and allow the "Slackers" to get away with everything. At least that was my experience. I was with the night shift crew, and jeez was it a pain just to take a break. You'd think you're suppose to work as a team with your coworkers, but nah everyone thinks they are "entitled" to their own opinions and does whatever they see fit. Honestly, it doesn't fit the mold of the companies plans, but whenever you turn to anyone that is considered "upper management" they throw you a bone and send you on your happily frustrated way. 

Here is the good though: If you were to get in the doors (which its very easy) at Prysmian Group. Then I say to aim at either being a respool operator or measurement operator. Don't try to do anything else because that requires you working as a team with your coworkers. If you are a hard prosperous worker then be prepared to be overworked. Because while their may not be an "I in team" there is an I in Prysmian and you're peers just simply do not care.

I wasted 5 YEARS....

Worked as an extrusion machine operator for 2 years. For over a year and a half I was required to work 12 hour days all week long and then also work every weekend. They refused to hire anybody to take second shift position and have me and 1st shift operator cover second shift for over a year and a half because they rather work us as much as they can without having to find an employee to fill the spot. So covering a whole other shift 7 days a week gives you no option to say no because you are only allowed 7 refusals a year of overtime. So you have no option whether to work it or lose your job. Period. They gave me two different refusals for not coming in early but that same night called me to tell me to stay home and not come in because I didn’t have a take-up person. Get refusals even when told to stay home. I finally gave up after a year and a half of 12hour days, 7 days a week because my kids were never getting to see me. They get paid to hire people on probation and drug court but yet was making me choose to either give my one day a week that I asked for recovery and to not come in early or to give me a refusal for that one day until I ran out. So I finally quit and finding something that pays less but works a little less hours to keep my recovery and see my family.

Typical day at work is laid back and easy. I believe I learned how to learn the differences in fiber optics and the process of how to successfully create useful products and quality production. Management needs improvement from the bottom to the top. The team leads have favorites and DOES NOT treat everyone with the same respect. Disrespectful comments are made on the regular.. harassment of all kinds from team leads is an everyday thing.. Nothin has been done about the issue whatsoever... There are awesome employees there that makes you feel like your family.. I met and was apart of a loving and caring group of people who would go out of their way to help and support their co workers on the job and in personal life situations. In my opinion the hardest part of the job is writing QN's if there was a problem with the production line and/or finished product. I loved the company of good people and friends... I miss the family that I had when I was employed and the kindness that was showed.. Some Individuals of management also made you feel appreciated for the hard work you gave that day/night and acknowledged you as a group and individually..  

A typical day of a new employee is different than most places. Prysmian Group operations basically is a class system based on tenor and approvability of the managers. Your direct supervisor is called a team lead and has the worst job of his life. No support from management, has to work for one manager and get blamed for everything and anything most times behind closed doors and over inaccurate information. He listens to employees complaints, deals with employees walking off the job and no actions taken. Basically unsupported and a scape goat for everything. You can't go through 30 supervisors in a 10 year stretch without it being bad top management and total disregard to employees on the night shifts. Just a very hard place to get trained and understand. Over 200 million square feet of factory and only 2 human resources personel? How much do you think they care? They don't. No real attendance rules. There is one for those they don't like and no issues with those they like. It's kinda great though, you can cuss your supervisor out and leave for the rest of the shift and come right back the next day like nothing happened 

Overall I would have to say places to work laid back I say 4 out 5. Now as management would go I say 0 out 5.  Others helping others even spread except in the material handlers. Never in my entire life I mean in my life have I worked with the most lazy I mean lazy people in the world. They don’t know what helping others is. The will sit and watch you struggle and pull off. I mean pull off and beep and laugh.  I had an issue I even took it to the H R department. Well i was told deal with it or bye. I begged to be moved and was told no. I did everything in my power to be moved to another section. I ended up pointing myself out on purpose because it was the easiest way to go. Ive made changes to the place that did the company well.  I also brought negative to the work cause of the issues the lead to more. Most co workers are very nice and polite. You think someone in the higher ups would of seen a worker who worked in 4 months just starting out that made 18000 to 72hr weeks to bare min if 30 that there’s something wrong.  I was treated unfairly to the point where I knew I was heading out the door. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Machine operator 17 salaries reported	$21.40 per hour
Mechanic 1 salary reported	$26.19 per hour
Maintenance electrician 3 salaries reported	$36.57 per hour
Production operator 4 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Maintenance technician 5 salaries reported	$30.61 per hour

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