Excellent technology hampered by critical issues in corporate management - Senior Engineer Itron Employee Review

Executive management is badly out of touch with rank-and-file employees, because they don't solicit or welcome their input. On the rare occasions the visit remote sites from Liberty Lake, they spend nearly all their time talking to managers. Since many directors are offsite from their direct reports, a culture of nonaccountability has resulted. There is no meaningful oversight of those first-line managers, and that lack of checks and balances has allowed some highly unethical and counterproductive behavior to persist indefinitely. HR is worthless at best, and an active participant in abusive practices as worst. Ordinary employees are required to undergo training on the company's Code of Conduct each year and sign an ethics pledge, but managers appear to be exempt from both the training itself and immune from any consequences for gross violations of it. Meanwhile, executives are steadily outsourcing everything they can to low-labor-cost economies (India, Hungary, etc) while the technical staff is compelled to train the people they know will ultimately replace them. What a morale crusher that is!