Pros
I honestly can't think of a single positive thing. Oh, I've learned how to deal with insane amounts of stress and anxiety. I've also learned how to discreetly take interviews in conference rooms. Oh, and Detroit is pretty cool. The office location was one nice perk.
Cons
Where do I even begin? I'm just going to list out everything that happened or was an issue: -Promotions and projects are based on whether or not you're actively kissing management's tushy. You could be the most incompetent graphic designer whom clients regularly complain about, but if you make your manager breakfast/ refer to them as your mother (this is not an exaggeration,) you will be rewarded with promotions and projects. Hard work and skills means literally nothing, and loyalty will save you when you tell everyone to use the wrong branding colors for well over a year. -The most unethical hiring practices I've ever heard of. If you told me that CDK had some sort of backdoor deal with contracting companies, I'd believe you. People would REGULARLY have their contracts extended well past when they were initially told they would be considered for full time positions (and then would not be notified of the change to their contracts.) I've witnessed management lie to potential employees that there is a chance they will be hired on after the initial contracting period. That will not happen. Do not fall for it. -Management refusing to give employees their employment contracts. -Extremely low pay, and extremely varied. People in the same department, in the same position, with the same background and experience were paid $15 to $22. -People who were lucky enough to be hired on were often offered substantially lower pay than they made as a contractor, and were told the rates were non-negotiable. -Bed bugs. Several times. It probably happened because CDK pays so little that employees have to find housing in less than desirable situations. Management kept quiet on several reportings of bed bugs over a period of a few weeks. When the office was finally sprayed, employees were ordered to come in (even though most are perfectly capable of working from home) less than 12 hours from when the poison was sprayed (and is apparently still toxic if inhaled before then.) There were several pregnant women who were forced to come in. Zero humanity displayed from management. -Oh, every single job is being outsourced to India. If a problem was bought up to management (like Indian team members turning in extremely subpar work that was making clients incredibly angry) we were told "please support your Indian team members." -Employees were instructed by management to make it appear as if work done by the Indian team was actually done by US team members. Yet another extremely unethical business choice. -Your schedule could be changed on a whim, and if you didn't like it, oh well. -Benefits increasingly got worse and worse. The health insurance was extremely laughable. -95% of employees that left had to argue with HR to receive the full amount on their paychecks. I know of at least two instances where CDK argued that former employees actually owed them money. -We couldn't use the water in the building several times (e.g. no drinking water, couldn't use the bathroom, building management tried to force us to leave, etc..) -Our parking expenses were just straight up not covered. -The micromanagement from middle management. We're talking "why didn't you do 11 cases instead of 10?" each and every day. -The training provided was a complete joke. It would take months to train someone, and then they would be cut because management didn't like them as a person. Often, employees would start without laptops, or permissions to basic programs. It could take up to a week to get permissions. There was no training material in the content department for several years, as it was provided strictly orally. -Rampant racism can be found if you know where to look. -The clear psychological erosion from middle management. They will tell you literally whatever they think you want to hear, and then ban you from any promotions or projects because you bought up a business issue. -The issues within management. There are actually fantastic people just trying to earn a paycheck. However, they aren't invited out to dinners with their management, invited to exclusive birthday parties with other management, and they're disrespected on a daily basis for treating their teams like people. CDK management is like high school times one million. It absolutely could be a reality show if it wouldn't be extremely soul crushing to watch. -The content department was the lowest rung on the totem pole. Ineffective, unprofessional, and consistent problem employees from other departments would regularly belittle, mock, and go out of their way to make life difficult for the content team by sending in sub-par requests that were impossible to complete. Instead of reaching across the aisle and using these issues as teaching moment, management would ream you out and consistently take the side of other departments. -Zero opportunities for professional development, and zero transferrable skills. -The technology was extremely outdated, clunky, and down quite a bit. If I were a client, I would be absolutely livid. -I would say conservatively 40% of the current management has left from all departments. Even the fleas are jumping off this drowning pig.