I learned to never trust the owners and executive group at this company. My first couple of years with them were very good, and they treated me well. But I was concerned about the instances I'd witness of other coworkers being treated in a condescending manner, yelled at in front of others, and talked about behind their backs by members of the executive group. It seems like this treatment goes in cycles, as they pick and choose favorites, but then the "new becomes old" and soon everyone who works there has or will experience the wrath of the execs. I'm not just talking about the nepotism thing that I see in several of the comments, but I'll get to that later. After a while, I also became one of their targets. Nothing I could do was good enough, fast enough, smart enough, or 'right' enough. I was outright lied to, manipulated, and belittled in front of coworkers. I am an experienced professional, with this type of workplace environment being foreign to anything I'd ever been exposed to.
Over time, I'd witnessed almost every single member of the exec team, at one time or another, divulging confidential information about one employee to another employee who had no reason to be in the loop. So if Mrs. Exec tells you that your friend/coworker Susie Q was written up for being late to work too many times or not getting her work done, you have to wonder how many other people she's sharing that information with and why. You also have to wonder if she and the other executives are sharing information about you with your coworkers. Of that, you can be sure.
I also experienced the CEO scolding employees in the open cubical area for such offenses as having stacks of notebooks and paper in their office, or laughing too loud, or doing what he told them to do instead of what he meant for them to do. He uses a condescending tone, scoffs when they squirm, and cuts them off when they try to explain. It would be prudent of him to pull employees into his office to discuss these major offenses privately instead.
Raises are skimpy, but they'll tell you that a 2% raise is great. They'll tell you during your review that you are a valued employee and that they appreciate your great work. They'll say that they wish they could give you more, but they can't because that's the industry standard. This is after boasting of record year-end profits. Again, they will deny or downplay that in their response, but it happened to many hard working, dedicated, loyal, long time employees who repeatedly set and reached high standards for themselves, based on the company's set of 22 core values. Then you learn the family members received raises in the double digit percentages.
Family members are also promoted to positions they are unqualified for. Again, there will be a response to this comment, denying it. But check out the credentials of those in managing positions, going back to when that person was put in the position. They responded to one reviewer with a comment about firing family members, but if a person is still on the payroll, it doesn't seem like they've actually been terminated from employment. I can't name specific titles in this review, so as another reviewer said earlier, DO YOUR RESEARCH. There are about 35 employees in the home office. In the past 4 years, approximately the same number of people left employment at ACH's home office for a variety of reasons. Half of them in the last 12 months or so.
Anyway, I smile because I chose to get out of there before they tore me down completely. Thanks for the lessons ACH!
