Pros
You can't beat the people at American Tower. Colleagues are nice, laid back and fun. Executive leadership is outstanding. Benefits are good, despite low pay. The legal department has a lot of very smart people and you can learn a lot from them. Our GC and many of the veteran lawyers are some of the best telecommunications lawyers in the country.
Cons
The numbers are all there. The turnover rate is ASTRONOMICAL. Employee survey results are dismal. Morale is low. At least half of the department is interviewing elsewhere, even grizzled veterans that are key performers. So why is this? To start off, it’s a combination of a high volume of work and lots of pressure, but that can be said about any attorney job. But then add in major office politics, poor management, no clear paths for advancement, confusing/contradictory/non-existent procedures, and horrible computer systems. Oh, and low pay as well. Yes, we know that HR has done "studies" of what lawyers get paid, but I'd rather trust surveys like the one Major, Lindsey and Africa did that says that the LOWEST paid attorneys in the telecom industry make $150,00 and the median total pay was $180,000. To get down to the nitty gritty, here are everyday experiences in the legal department: You work for a manager who has no idea how to do his/her job or how to help you do yours. You work overtime each week to crank out hundreds of documents on your drafting list and are the top performer on your team, but you get docked on your review and get a measly 3% raise because of some trivial thing that you did or forgot to do (like comply with one of our many unwritten procedures or say "thank you" in an email). You are a licensed attorney and handle your own UPS, FedEx, mail, copying and scanning when you could be writing contracts. Your manager tells you that you are behind in writing contracts. You have a major project due by the end of the week, but the company rolls out a new document storage system without testing it and you are locked out of your files. Our motto is to implement first, then actually give the project some thought after the fact, then say that we’re too invested in the current system to fix the problems, and then devise a hundred “workarounds” that make it more burdensome to do your job. We spend millions on bad systems and then tell everyone that raises were low because we have to keep SG&A down. You have asked several times what is needed to advance to the next level. You are either given no answer or you are given certain goals to meet, and when you meet them, they “move the chains” and say you didn’t meet other goals that no one told you about. Then the company will hire someone will less experience for a more senior position than yours. Your terrible manager has lost 75-100% of his/her team and still has both a management position and a job because the company can’t admit that some people can’t be fixed. There are hundreds of articles that talk about why bad managers can't be changed. Remember, employees don’t leave companies, they leave bosses! You are a great worker, but get so fed up with the pay/advancement that you find a new job. You speak with your manager and tell him/her that you have an offer, but you would stay if they bumped you up $5,000 in pay. They tell you that they wish you the best of luck in your new job. Yet, the average cost to replace an employee is 30% of her salary (in just recruiting and training costs), and that doesn't even count the loss of experience, loss of social connections, loss of morale to the department and so on.