Dear Antiwork,
Hi! I’ve been a follower of the sub for some time now, and I must say: I’m with most people on this sub, and it has been eye-opening what some of you go through on a daily basis. I’m not here to give another ‘I had no idea’ speech (I had an idea from the moment I started working, I have my own work-100-hours-a-week-and-forget-appreciation experience). Rather, I’m here to talk about the company I’ve been working with for a little over one year now, ABB. (I joined them at the start of 2021 as Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Motion business division in Belgium)
I framed the following in a little bit of a ‘Q&A’ way, to keep it easier to read. These are solely my opinions, and I want to clarify I hope you understand I’m not trying to act in bad faith here. Have a good read!
Tl;dr: in my experience with this global company so far, they make products that have a lot of positive impact for energy usage and circular use of assets and materials. Alongside that, they seem to value you in the right way, by PAYING YOU WHAT YOU ARE WORTH. ABB has a strong internal compliance and care culture with people you can go to for personal reasons who have to keep these reasons to themselves (Not HR!). The company takes active initiatives to promote personal and mental health and general safety, for blue and white collar workers. We also have lots of vacancies all over the world. I’m not saying all will be perfect, local issues can still arise, but there is a framework to address this (I’ve seen it in action already). You’re free to browse listings on their website (just google them) and take a shot at, hopefully, a nicer work environment and more satisfaction. All the best to all of you, I hope you find the same thing I have.
Allrighty, here we go.
What is ABB?
I fully appreciate that most of you don’t know the company. ABB is a global manufacturer of, among other things, industry-leading robots, the fastest EV infrastructure in existence and ultra-energy-efficient electric motors and variable frequency drives for all sorts of industry applications.
But wait, isn’t industry … bad?
There is a lot to say about industry and the effects they had on labor conditions before the advent of unions, but that has changed a lot since. At least in my country, industry such as Automotive, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Marine, Oil & Gas, Pulp and paper, Solar, Water, Wind and many more have rather strong union presence and good compensation packages.
Okay, but what about the, you know, environment?
Good, and very, very valid point. Industry does have a big impact on the environment. We also have one, as OEM (original equipment manufacturer). Parts have to come from somewhere, and have to be made from something. Things also have to be made somehow. And right now, a lot can be said of the fact that this process is very linear, with little to no consideration of how we can reuse, refurbish, remanufacture, retrofit and recycle.
What I can also say, is that ABB actively works together with their customers to maximize energy efficiency and sustainability with our products and services. This can have huge impacts on energy usage and the carbon footprint of operations and products.
Can you give an example, internal and external?
Sure!
As an internal example: we have a Robotics refurbishment shop. Here End of Life robots come back to life as new, with the same level of quality, performance and durability. 700 robots are saved from the scrapyard yearly, with a 60% reduction In raw material usage. We also cut our local Belgian emissions by 64% over the last 3 years, and we are only going to improve towards the future!
As for customer examples. (I can freely talk about the ones mentioned) Ikea reduced their CO2 emissions by 425 tons/year in 2 Spanish stores thanks to our motors and drives, Audi reduced their paint usage and energy consumption of this process per car by 30% with our robots and actually 3D printing instead of spraying their cars (I love this one so much) and Amsterdam’s ferries will be electric instead of diesel powered, cutting their yearly operation’s emissions by 2400 tons and saving 800 000 liters of diesel. If you want more, just ask! I’m clearly too excited about these to continue.
Let’s get down to brass tax. Tell us a little more about the job, and you in specific.
I’m 24 years old, and I finished uni at 20. Wasted my time at a startup that promised much, but never actually delivered (even after I grew their monthly sales by 900% in one year). So after that dumpster fire, I was clearly on the hunt for something different.
I found ABB by coincidence. I had no prior knowledge of the company before I decided to apply and I liked their initiatives in terms of saving energy and supporting the electrification movement. Why not be a part of a solution for once, you know? So I applied. The process was honestly very smooth and after I had a second interview in person on a Friday, they called me on Monday to offer me a job. They gave me 20% more pay than my previous job and way better benefits. I had a second one in the running, I asked to offer them the chance of giving me an offer if they wanted before I accepted theirs. They agreed without hesitation. This never manifested, so I accepted ABB’s proposal.
How was starting the job during Covid times?
They actually made a point of giving me the opportunity to go to the office for the first month. This might seem like a strange thing, but being the new addition to quite a large organization, I really appreciated this. I got to know people on a more personal basis, and were a very welcome source of information when I lost my way in all the tools and processes. It’s a global company, so lots to discover and people to meet.
After one month, I worked remotely again. We had Friday calls to talk more informal with the team and a little beverage, which helped getting to know everyone whilst not working in the same place. And now, the company is not pushing to return to the office. Instead, they are implementing a hybrid structure between 3 days home and 2 days office, which is nice.
How is compensation, benefits, …?
I have had 2 positive evaluations since I started working, and both of them ended up in a significant raise. I now earn 25% more than what I started with, which comes to 41k/year. Of course not every positive evaluation will come with a raise, but this is a good sign.
I have 32 paid vacation days a year, and they actively encourage you to take all of them. My work week is 40 hours contractually, but if you get your job done in less, that’s fine.
I have health insurance and a pension plan.
I don’t have a company car (I don’t need to take regular trips to the office and I’m not management-level yet – others do from the start), but every trip I take outside of going to the office is expensed at 36.1 cents per km (indexed!) without blinking. Every other cost I make for my job is handled in the same way.
We got extra home working compensation (for increased internet usage, heating, using own things more) and got the opportunity to order IT items for our home office through ABB free of charge.
Pay is always on time, and is subject to increases, not decreases, when the company does well or there is inflation.
The general attitude to work-life balance is very ‘life’ oriented. ABB is a Swiss-Swedish company, so the internal policies regarding this subject are very humane. If you need time off because you are at a burnout? No worries, take your time. We’ll see you when you get back on your feet. (Again, I saw this happen)
Another thing I saw happen is someone basically being bullied by a coworker (yes people can still suck) and management taking actual steps to make sure this person responsible is removed.
How has the company faired through the Great Resignation?
I have only seen 2 people move on because they found a more interesting opportunity to them, but other changes in the team have been through retirements. We have a real spread in age groups across the team, and the older colleagues are starting to reach the end of their career. So pretty great, I think.
So why are you writing this story?
As we are an industrial company operating ‘behind the scenes’, we don’t have the best name recognition. This makes hiring new people more difficult, and we have had some longstanding vacancies that don’t receive applications. I know you are talented people who want the best in life, and maybe this could be worth a shot.
I really like the company and how they treat people. Go check out their vacancies all over the globe, and who knows, maybe I’ll have one of you guys as my colleague in the future.
Cheers!