Work/Life balance
Compensation compared to other companies in area
Benefits are average
Annual raise/promotions
Culture or lack of
High turnover
Employee morale
Internal IT investment
Inept coworkers
Remote work/working from home
"Old boys club" C-level
Where do I start...
Do not work at the CHS IS/IT department. The company does not value its employees nor their opinions. Expect to wear a shirt and tie to look pretty while sitting in your cube and disregard the fact that you're not client facing. Want to work from home once or twice a week? Don't even think about it. Even though it is an 8-5 job, you will have to do work from home at odd hours. Please note, the company policy is "no work from home"....
Culture. That is something CHS does not have. Oh wait, yes it does! The culture of higher profits for the shareholders at the expense of employee morale and satisfaction! Yes this is a publicly traded company and the bottom line matters but at CHS, it's all that matters. Other companies in the industry know how to tread that line between profit and employee investment.
There is no culture that you can identify yourself with here. It is truly a place where you come to so that you can "pay the bills". Employee morale is at an all time low and management does not acknowledge it. I think they're oblivious to it which is even more frightening. This is not a place where you will think, "I love what I do and I'm excited to go to work!"
Want to know what your annual raise is going to be this year because you did an awesome job? Look up the inflation rate, because that number is it. Want to know what your promotion increase in compensation is? Look up the inflation rate and add 1%. Seriously. Want more money? Well, your best bet is to quit and come back. Maybe you'll even get an offer where your proper promotion raise would have put you.
If someone with a higher level leaves on your team, good luck with the person coming in to replace them. You'll most likely have to train them because they won't be coming in at the level of the outgoing person. Nope. The CIO and his policy will bring in someone at the lowest level possible to replace that person and save money. "Wait...that doesn't make sense. The knowledge gap is massive" you may think. Well, deal with it cause that's how things work around here. This point was made on the assumption that your team will get a new person. The truth is, you will probably have to do 2 jobs for a good year before that new person is found.
The people you work with will be hit or miss. You will have absolute rockstars who are good at what they do. These people don't stick around. And then youhave people on the opposite side of the spectrum who will be around for 5+ years because the company can't afford to lose anyone.
Now I'm sure you're thinking, "Hey, maybe I can come in here and help turn things around??". Laughable. You'll take a survey about your dissatisfaction and never hear about it again because the company pretends that all their employees love their jobs and company. You will invited to a department townhall in the basement of the building and be made to stand there for the entire 2 hours.You will then be told that you're lucky to even have a job in this "tough" industry, only after the CIO has ranted about how good he is at karate and how you'll never stop wearing ties.
internal technology is stuck 10 years in the past. If you do decide to work here, make sure to grab the free diabet....err sodas in the break room while you wait 30 mins for your laptop to boot up.There wasn't even a corporate instant messaging tool until recently, due to reluctance of the CIO. Even then, good luck with trying to start the software on your crappy HP laptop with Windows XP.
If you have aspirations or ambitions about progressing your career, look elsewhere. CHS is a great place if you want to stay at one level for 10 years. Yes, it provides job security. But frankly, job security is only there because CHS cannot hire any people of decent talent. Go elsewhere in town. The grass is 100% greener.
