Some Remarks From A Longtime GE Employee

Last weekend I received an email from a reader who is also a longtime GE employee. The email landed in my spam folder and went unread for a few days.

Of the various developments in my professional life since beginning this blog in the fall of 2005, just after hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast, this email represents perhaps the most unexpected.

Not being a professional writer, in the sense of living off of income derived from the activity, I wasn't fully prepared for what many columnists must also experience at some point in their careers, i.e., affecting someone sufficiently to trigger a heartfelt outpouring of their own personal aspect of a story about which they have written, or 'covered.'

For me, it's GE. And totally unintended, by the way. I've never owned the equity, choosing instead to simply voice my amazement that anyone else would.

However, here are a few excerpts from my reader's letter,

"I have been checking out your blogs pertaining to GE since your appearance on the O'Reilly Factor about GE and Iran. I recently was laid off from GE West Burlington, Iowa - Switchgear Operations. I got a recall to return temporarily for a few weeks starting soon. ..... The security though is another thing, which leads me to write this to you. I just wanted to pass onto what we've been going through as GE employees the last year and a half, and all that GE does is not surprising to anyone that works for them. As a shareholder though it has been very disappointing since Jeff Immelt has taken over.

The CEO in charge of the Powell-GE mess is Lloyd Trotter, whom ...left and came back as Vice President of GE Consumer & Industrial. He retired at the end of 2007. With the mess that was created, he may have been asked to retire. Now he serves on the board of directors for Pepsi Co. Lloyd was a Plant Manager for GE Burlington in 1986. He wrote articles back then as GE was leading in the market, that to come and see him in 25 years, as he was expecting GE to be still leading the way in Switchgear. And thanks to Lloyd, it may not make it to 25 years. It's a HUGE mess and it's getting worse even though technically the transition is supposed to be pretty much done. It's just the kind of ineptness there is among GE CEOs.

They just want to do business overseas, they don't care about GE Americas anymore. Though the Industrial side of GE should be with GE Energy instead of GE Consumers - has never made sense to me. Though they restructure all the time and change the names every so often you can't keep up from week to week, year to year.

GE just has gotten away from what they built their foundation on. All the attacks on Immelt are deserving. The last time GE lost money was in 2003, and whom was in charge, the same guy. A lot of people in GE are sooo disappointed of the direction of the company.

It sucks being a GE employ right now, and particularly in America. They don't care and it isn't taking much to sell everyone out here in America. GE should be #1 in everything they do, but they don't care and don't put the money back into the company like they should. They've created a mess, and what's sad is all those that have worked their asses off for GE - even after they sell part of the businesses - have to pay for it.

GE used to have an Integrity website when Jack Welch was in charge, they made everyone sign a paper on it. Though they no longer have the site, and maybe since Jeff Immelt has taken over, there is no longer any integrity in the company."


I find it interesting to learn from my reader that, in his opinion, what I've observed as top-level ineptitude on Immelt's part since becoming GE CEO in late 2001 is mirrored down in the trenches among the hourly workers.

Notice how he can attest to Welch's impact at the line employee level, having everyone visit and 'sign' the webpage regarding integrity. During Welch's last CNBC appearance, he talked about the need to knit employees together and create a sense of leadership in which they felt invested and to which they felt committed.

My reader seems to be indicating that Immelt did the opposite.

So there you have it. One GE employee's view from the frontline trenches in Immelt's version of WWI- no forward movement but plenty of casualties. Except for the senior officers.