Pros
Overall, Raytheon provides a good job with little risk of layoff. The starting pay is generally attractive, the performance sharing payouts are decent, and the benefits are pretty good. Work schedules are very flexible and in most situations there is no pressure to consistently work over 40 hours a week. Its a great job to have in uncertain economic times such as these if you rely on the income. Its also a great job if you want a relatively certain, steady rise in income (to my knowledge, Raytheon has never seen an across-the-board pay cut and few years with no raises at all).
Cons
High potential employees can easily hit artificial roadblocks to their career. After a few years the pace of promotions tapers off significantly. Raises are based almost entirely on performance rating; everyone in a given performance grade gets the same raise, even though one of the grades encompasses about 70% of the population. Variable pay programs are woefully inadequate. Compensation seems to be almost entirely tied to years with the company and salary grade. In addition, the company takes advantage of weak job markets and the knowledge that most people have nowhere better to go to cut the raise budgets, even if the company is doing well.
