Quality Control Supervisor | United States | May 31, 2018
Toxic work environment, Inept Leaders, Incompetent leadership
With over 20 years in aviation contracting, both military contracts and commercial contracts, PAE has been by far the worst company that I have ever worked for.
PAE is a man power company and their only asset, are the people that they hire. For a company that their only asset is manpower, PAE does not treat their employees well and often lets the customer dictate who can and cannot work on the program, causing contract interference.
In the area of aviation, PAE does not pay a competitive wage, even though PAE bids the position close to what the average is for the area.
PAE Management is made up of retired military officers, who do not understand the different dynamics of different contracts and try to manage ALL contracts the same way they would run a military unit. Because of this, PAE Management is full of retired, incompetent, lazy ex-military officers, who still think they are in the military. Ask them a simple question, like what is my job description and you will be ripped apart for asking. This has created a very inept PAE Program Managers, which in turn has created a very toxic working environment.
PAE Management will make promises to the customer that are not written in the statement of work and can’t deliver on their promises. In order PAE Management to look competent, they will lie directly to the customer in order to save their position. I have seen this over and over again on conference calls, PAE managers lying to the customer, because of their
ProsThere are no PROs working for PAE.
ConsRetired, incompetent, lazy ex-military Management, Pay, Benefits, Not a real company.
➢ V.I.P. Operation (South Africa)
In 2010, at the time of World Cup in south Africa V.I.P and delegation from German Soccer Team was supposed to depart from schedule flight i.e. Lufthansa Airlines in evening 19h55 from O.R.Tambo International Airport Ltd.to Frankfurt.
Protocol officer, VIP’s Security and other officers from embassy arrived at 17h55 to check-in their baggage and to complete all related immigration, customs and security clearance formalities etc.
After the announcement of boarding, delegation arrived at 19h20 and moved towards the boarding gate with five members of delegation.
Finally flight departed on time carrying more than four hundred passengers along with the VIP delegation. Immediately after departure of flight all airline staff and protocol officers left for home.
After 30 minutes I heard on the radio that LH-573 was returning to base due to technical problems.
As a duty officer of the Airport at O.R .Tambo International Airport Ltd. this was part of my responsibility to handle all four hundred passengers and delegation with VIP’s to ensure their safety and wellbeing. I immediately informed Terminal Manager and Security Manager that all airline staff and protocol officers had left after the departure of the flight and VIP delegation is on board. I needed security assistance and clearance for the VIP’s and I required nearest aerobridge for aircraft parking from lounge to ensure that it is comfortable to move VIP’s as per security producers
-Federal government basically contracts out the clerical work that is mundane, tedious, and physically demanding to PAE. The whole operation seems like a file factory where the contractors process a never-ending flow of paper files like a sweat-shop or factory workers on a conveyor belt. Every day consists of doing a few simple tasks and repeating them 100-1000+ times a day. Be prepared to be doing the same exact thing for years, upward mobility and pay raises are considered a taboo here for contractors.
-it would take months and even years to get system access to things that are primarily needed for your duties because of the lack of communication between management... management makes even little things like sticky notes, pens, and general office supplies more complicated than it should be. For example, management orders calendars for the new year, but you won’t receive them until 5-6 months into the year.
-Incompetent site manager that is very smug and will belittle lower-lever employees and all the while is often oblivious to day-to-day processes.
Pros:
-Sometimes you get to leave work one hour early on Christmas Eve and on days before upcoming holidays as long you come into work one hour early so that you still work a full 8 hours. (Keep in mind, management will not inform you about early closure until the day before at the very end of the day).
Cons:
-Very heavy paper handling, after a couple months of working here blisters and calluses start forming on your
Coworkers tried to sabotage me by observing my quality of work, giving me positive feedback, then emailing my boss that I was doing terrible work. These emails contained blatant lies but I was given no chance to dispute them and defend myself because my boss started to verbally attack me. She threatened to fire me more than once in the span of a week, and told me I should change my entire career path and that I am "only in it for the money" (after spending 7 years in college to earn my Master's in my field of study and having years of experience doing exactly what I was hired to do).
Boss yelled at me for using equipment improperly when the 2 employees I was shadowing did the exact same thing. I found out that these employees were just cutting corners because they were lazy and didn't want to do their job or train me properly (talk about in it for the money)...
When I confronted the employees I was shadowing, regarding this issue, I was told "We do it this way because it's faster but don't tell the boss. When the boss evaluates you, do it this way instead". Are you serious? At least tell me before-hand that you don't truly give a rats behind about your job and you're giving me incorrect information!!
Over the course of my short stay I had a coworker approach me saying they noticed unfair hostility directed specifically toward me. Everything I did for my boss (holding the door for her, taking a few seconds too long to answer a question, the way I walked) bothered her
No advancement, terrible management, highly likely to do way more than what you're actually paid.
The environment is toxic and really disorganized. It has a highly dusty atmosphere with towers of boxes in places people have to navigate through just to do a small task. The prime rule is "every man/woman for themselves" . Good luck finding a cart/handtruck or supplies to actually do your job because your "colleagues" will not share their carts even when they're clearly doing nothing with it. There will be times when you have to clean someone's mess and may be relegated to add that task to your already long list of tasks. There will be a huge gap in workload among workers because of this.
Management is full of incompetent, lazy workers high off their power who can't even answer simple questions to correctly do your job and then rip you apart when you do it wrong. Communication is terrible on all fronts. They're constantly out of their chairs or offices so the chances of finding them when needed are slim. Many newer workers waited months to actually get a solid seat or cubicle which just shows how much they "care". There were still boxes with files (from 6+ months ago) in limbo just tossed in commonly used pathways.
Pay is extremely mediocre for what you're asked to do. If you're looking for advancement , incentives, or raises, you won't find them here. You can possibly give 10 years of your life and still be in the exact same position as when you started with worse benefits and same pay. You will do way more than what you read in the job description and they will s
ProsBenefits are decent but expect it to lower in quality as time goes on.
ConsWorst management you will ever see. Low pay with no prospects of raises or advancement, Your vacation hours are never safe, Environment is toxic and cluttered
2.0
Administrative Assistant | Fort Worth, TX | Jul 21, 2019
Long term employees treated unfairly
PAE is about money only. They don't care about their employees when it comes to honest complaints or job performances. It is who you know and what "clique" you belong too. They cut corners on work and their ethics but state they put the "customer" first. Employees are doing the job of 3 or more people but can't understand how the job can't be 100% correct or what time is spent doing this. When the audits come, they will fail because they failed as a company. They have double standards when it comes to them and their employees. They are about efficiency but when efficiency becomes lacking; they don't want to hear about it. It is the employees fault. No true training is provided to the employees from Corp to the field teams. It is all done via the intranet; no more personal touch. Managers are all about keeping their jobs and bonuses. They lost all compassion for their employees. It is a sad company to work for. The morale is horrible. There is no longer RESPECT for anyone. You can't trust anyone including HR, directors or managers because again, it is coming down to PAE's bottom line of money. If you are a new employee; stay for a couple of years to get experience but then leave. Because if not, you will get treated poorly no matter how well you perform. They really do head jobs on their employees and the company is a bully. Sadly, they lost good employees and contracts due to their attitude and substandard behavior. Again, their management really needs a
A joint venture (S3) in which PAE is the majority partner took over facility and test operations contracts for NASA at both the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, LA and Stennis Space Center, MS. PAE corporate personnel are incompetent at best as they routinely come on site to help and over a year later nothing is better, if anything it's worse. Complete lack of leadership from the top down. PAE management destroyed the moral and productivity that was in existence under the previous three contracts. They have "laid off" some of the best most caring employees that we the workforce could turn to when we needed help. PAE's financial systems are lacking and they cannot provide good numbers to the NASA customer. The senior management team is untruthful and plays favoritism. If you are in with one particular person in management then you don't have to worry about your job as this person hires, promotes, terminates and demotes strictly based on her personal opinion not based on the needs of the business. This contract has continued to hire people instead of putting into place systems and processes that work. Now we were just notified by senior management in an email that there is going to be a layoff due to this overstaffing. Sad thing is, the favorites who don't perform will get to stay while some of the good ones go home. I would not recommend PAE to anyone looking for employment. Go dig ditches somewhere if you can find a job doing that as it will be more rewarding!
ProsCompensation
ConsLack of leadership, no tools and/or process for employees to do their jobs effectively, corporate office support
Unfortunately this company has poor management; allowing extremely unprofessional employees to remain at their location. The level of unprofessionalism is UNBELIEVABLE and very discouraging for the young work force. Making exceptions for ignorance is unacceptable. I would NEVER work for this company due to allowance of unprofessionalism; to include lying, gossiping, intimidation, and straight IMMATURITY.
This company hired someone I know for their ability to absorb new information since they had limited experience. Her coworker was anything but professional; she was rude, always late, leaving early, confrontational, discouraging and completely unsupportive; setting this young woman up for failure. Disgusting. She has issues; however, the problem ultimately lies in the management. Not sure why the management would allow someone like her to represent their organization and "run" things the way she wants. This young woman got fired due to the lack of training received. Admin Support is not "hard" by any means. The young woman wanted her friend to work there instead of this young lady and did whatever it took to get her out of the scene. She succeeded in not only getting her fired, but placing a bad taste in MANY people's mouths for the way things were handled. Shame on you PAE.
I would never work for this company and will not ever allow anyone I know to work for this company either. The pay might be good but the lack of professionalism is astounding in China Lake.
A fastly growing company with an lot of opportunity and challenge
The company is a pretty decent company to work for if you're a self-motivated individual. From the time I first started with them to the present, there have been many positive changes. They've grown form a company that primarily relied on cronyism and "who you know" to get decent career growth to being more of a professional organization. As with any company, there is still a degree of that politics and cronyism. However, there are enough good professional people who recognize the true talented people in the company as opposed to those who are there because of who they know. Some recent hires have been done externally even though management admittedly had equally qualified people internally.
The culture has changed from a small type company to more of a mid-size corporate environment out of necessity. However, there are still several folks from the "Old PAE" who are having a tough time adapting to the more robust corporate style and professional requirements of a more major Government Contractor - A few dinosaurs that are slowly aging out of the company.
The mission of this company and the people here are some of the best I've ever worked with.
ProsThe Mission of the company and the work they do internationally, Opportunities for self-motivated go-getter to learn and develop
ConsPolitics in hiring and some remnants of cronyism, They don't readily promote or hire from within (unless you play the game), Lack of diversity in Senior Management Positions.
1.0
Quality Control Supervisor | United States | May 3, 2018
Nothing good to say about PAE
PAE is what I would consider a bottom feeder company. The only asset that this company has, is their man-power. They win government contracts by under bidding the competition and paying their workers low wages. PAE has denied cost of living allowances to their employees on this contract for almost 4 years, because "they were losing money on the contract", even though, the cost of living has gone up almost 25%.
Do not ask for a pat raise, PAE will not give you a pay raise. Hard honest work is not rewarded, and if it rewarded, PAE management takes all the credit, for your work.
Unless you are a retired military officer, this is not a company for you. If you a person that likes to do the right thing, DON'T work for PAE. Whether you are right or wrong, PAE management will toss you aside, in order to save their management job.
I have been on conference calls, and have heard PAE HR say, that cannot find candidates to fill the open positions, because of the low pay.
Most job descriptions are very vague and do not spell out responsibilities, especially for supervisory roles. And when you question them, you will never get an answer.
Their is opportunity for advancement in PAE ....
Remember, PAE is a government contractor. their only asset are people, in which, they treat badly and PAE management is made up of retired military officers, that have no clue how to manage people or for that matter .... how to manage programs correctly.
Organized and supervised the activities involved to maintain and repair mechanical commercial and tactical military equipment
Provided leadership to cause the creation of organizational structure and processes required to fully execute the requirements of services
Ensured that equipment was maintained in accordance with current SOP and manufactures’ specifications, inside the Statement of Work
Utilize and employ computerized equipment management data base to monitor and control equipment maintenance
Provided technical support and repair instructions on new equipment and components
Responsible for troubleshooting, diagnosing and ordering parts of a vast number of vehicle and equipment
Advise employees of proper operation and maintenance of equipment, train new mechanics, and further develop skills of current workers
MHE Inspector and deemed competent person performing annual inspection and load testing
Performed maintenance and repairs on all types of vehicles to include all military and civilian vehicles
Performed maintenance and repairs on equipment to include but not limited to bulldozers, backhoes, cranes, mission essential equipment tactical/nontactical
Performed maintenance and repairs on all fire and rescue equipment for the Fire House, which consisted of Oshkosh Fire Truck, Rosenbauer Fire Truck, 2 brush fire vehicles, and all small equipment necessary for Fire Department to perform task on site such as generators, air and hydraulic too
Questions And Answers about PAE
What is the vacation policy like at PAE? How many vacation days do you get per year?
Asked Dec 1, 2016
You earn 2.31 hours of PTO (which is a combination of sick and annual leave) per week, so 4.62 hours per paycheck, which is equivalent to 3 weeks off per year. You also receive 80 hours of Holiday pay for the 10 Federal holidays you are off.
Answered Sep 12, 2020
You get 80 hours for the year which are wrapped into one with sick time vacation and pto anything left over to the following year will be paid out.
Answered Oct 11, 2019
How long does the clearance investigation take?
Asked Oct 11, 2016
Current 18 to 24 months for a Top Secret clearance. There is a backlog at the moment.
Answered Dec 11, 2019
I got the job offer 6/27/19 and my clearance approved 7/29/19. Start date 8/19/19. So about 2 months to start date.
Answered Aug 4, 2019
If you were in charge, what would you do to make PAE a better place to work?
Asked Mar 25, 2017
Provide room for growth in pay. Have rotation with work .
Answered May 30, 2019
Demo the entire building, dig up the old footers and start all over again
Answered Oct 26, 2018
What questions did they ask during your interview at PAE?
Asked Jul 7, 2016
Where do I see myself in 10 years
Answered Jul 16, 2019
Where the interview should be? what city?
Answered Jan 30, 2019
What is a typical day like for you at PAE?
Asked Mar 18, 2020
This answer applies ONLY to General Clerk-1 positions doing Manual Name Harvesting, which is the only position I can describe.
A typical day is: Arrive at the National Benefits Center, show ID to get past the guards, go to your cubicle and sign into the system, go to the file room and get a box of immigration files (around 18 files per box), return to your desk and begin reviewing each file for inconsistencies in name and birthday information, return worked files to the box, complete the box and label it for shipping to a file control office, get another box and repeat the above. At the end of the day, sign out of the system and leave. Depending on the complexity of the files, you can work more than one box in a shift.
Answered Nov 2, 2020
They start of by telling us in the meeting we didn't hit production .. we have a chance of having our Saturday of so we can work harder but in a reality we don't. They tell us we going to get fired if we don't figure out how to do our work they just set the goal and tell us no excuses with no help or strategy. Then we try our best and we get stuck along the way and we done for the day
