Battelle is currently struggling to adapt to the recession. The layers of management and other overhead is making them more expensive than the competition and they are losing business. Some areas are now managed based entirely on quarterly profit and loss, with no long term business plan for future growth of the business or development of the skills of the technical staff. Lack of long term planning means technical staff are being discarded even when their skill set might be necessary to win a new contract in the future. In some cases contracts are underbid to be competitive, with the technical staff expected to work uncompensated overtime to complete the project on budget. Since "time worked" is the only job measurement parameter that counts, staff are rewarded for "stealing" billable projects or billable hours from other staff. The internal environment is now very caustic to diversity, as the 'budy' system keeps the recession reduced project work among friends. If a staff member's time worked is suffering due to the recession, that person will go in the next RIF (Reduction In Force) without any attempt being made to transfer them to another group that might have an opening. Battelle used to be a great place to work but those days seem to be over.
