Pros
Good stable contract, 27 vacation days, 36 hours per week on full time contract. Possibility of building ADV days up to 13 per year. Stable and growing company with good opportunities for the future. Generally the company is investing in development, production and modernization of existing factories. The trend is good, to be better and better. In general I think the working conditions are above average, for sure better than most of the contracting agencies which DAF employs for headhunting and payroll. Most of the people are friendly and willing to help, an indication that they are not very stressed.
Cons
Not investing in people sufficiently, preferably to buy knowledge or even contracting multiple companies to finish projects in time but not to spend 1 cent on dedicated trainings. HR and senior management consider employees as cattle, simply don't care about anything and to be as less involved as possible.The N+2 might not know your name after working for 3-4 years although departments are not that large. Although the company is big and bureaucratic I still saw a few people fired just like that, American stile, almost with the security to take them away. You can be lucky and have a good manager but you'll understand soon that the big boss secretary can make you cry easily :)). Most of managers have worked in DAF for a log time and are not up to date with other companies trend, they apply same principles as before the discovery of computers. The R&D department shares same time schedule and work expectation with the production facilities, the hours you make count much more than delivering good quality of your work. If you are a foreigner you have much less chances to be promoted, you'll not be to much discriminated but not encourage to stay, kind of take it or leave it attitude.