In spite of the efforts of some managers, things have ultimately failed to change on the ground. There seem to be insurmountable challenges in finances (presumably), cultural inertia, and talent acquisition and retention. The business is extremely cyclical, the culture is the natural result of the core body of employees being forced to do their best Sisyphus impersonations, finding talent is a challenge as a small company in a niche industry, and retaining talent is impossible when it is obvious to rank and file employees that one's future can only be to either join the miserable ranks of the small core of employees doing a disproportionate amount of the work or find greener pastures in a more marketable industry.
Another issue is that the company does not really know what it wants to be. Is it a software company? Is it an AV integrator? Is it an IT shop? It tries to be all of the above and, as a result, fails to achieve competence in any one field. For example, there is a single position that is tasked with learning the proprietary software, having knowledge in AV, and being an IT professional. Every project varies in equipment chosen for the solution, which means these employees must constantly learn enough to fumble through a deployment under deadline. Travel is 50-75%, often cross-country, with no compensation for early Monday mornings and late Friday evenings in the airport. The compensation for being in such a position? Junior to mid-level systems administrator salary. This does not help employee retention.
It would be nice to recommend Activu. Ownership has a big heart (often big to a fault, occasionally resulting in questionable business decisions). There are genuinely likable people who still work there. There are genuinely talented people who still work there. And there are certainly people who work extremely hard trying to get the job done. This former employee wants the company to succeed, to be profitable, to build strong and happy teams. It is unclear, given the way things are currently structured, how this can happen.
