- Very poor leadership overall -- leaders are concerned with how you make them look good
- Very poor communications in the last couple of years -- no internal management of issues that affect employee morale and loyalty. HR has become a self-service effort. Try and ask a question!
- Recent spate of layoffs/firings has created a lot of tension around the firm -- and no one senior seems to care. Many of those let go had not been given any indication that they were not meeting expectations. 30 principals and about 50 senior associates is about the right number. A lot of folks have performance improvement plans which are just delayed terminations.
- Partners are just as worried about their career survival as the rest of the staff -- so they have little time to dedicate to doing the right thing -- which used to be the firm's mantra
- The push to go public seems to have a lot of downsides in a firm that used to do a much better job taking care of its people -- which are, after all, its major resource.