Pros
Pension program (if you manage to stay 5+ years)
Cons
SHRM has changed dramatically in years of my employment. When I started, employees were treated with respect and kindness. You would routinely see employees with tenures of 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. That is not to say the company was without fault, change was a bit slow, but overall, it was an organization that cared about staff, created an environment in which you could voice new ideas, and allowed you to leave work at work at the end of the day. The benefits were great: remote work was allowed and used across the organization, generous vacation time, and of course the pension plan. Fast forward to the end of 2017 when Johnny C. Taylor came on board as the new CEO. In the years since he joined, layoffs were routine. Some were big (think entire departments) but most were small drips (4 this week, 2 next week) that added up over the years to a flood. When staff were let go, they were not replaced and often not redundant, which meant their work was put onto the shoulders of the remaining employees. Imagine that over and over and over again. Workloads doubled. Stress levels skyrocketed. When staff complained of burn out, they were told that they were just not working hard enough before. (Also, please note, this is a HUMAN RESOURCES organization…). While all of this is going on, the executive team released their new guiding principles. Instead of creating a positive mission and mindset, these principles were lobbed at staff routinely like soul crushing grenades. If you question the rationale behind anything or pushback because your workload is too high or cannot work all weekend at the drop of a hat – you are in violation of the guiding principles. You are not being Flexible and Agile. You are not being Collaborative. You are not being Bold. Senior leadership (and I would include anyone at the Director level and above) likes to parrot off phrases of support for staff and tout benefits but is all gaslighting. Case and point, SHRM offers unlimited vacation! That sounds amazing right? Except when you request a day (one day). Six weeks in advance. Not at a major holiday. A day when no one else on your team is off. And you are told that you can take the day, unless we get busy and then you can’t. So plan to maybe have the day off, but also be prepared to not. Sounds like great work life balance right? The real reason traditional vacation was replaced with unlimited was because staff used to have too much time off. With some staff allotted 6-weeks vacation (in addition to sick leave). And SHRM had to pay that out when people quit…. Or were laid off. I also cannot express how horrible morale is. Burn out is bad (as mentioned before). Employees feel unvalued, unheard and desperate to leave. Whims of the executive team are expected to materialize overnight with little strategy or organization to support them. Johnny C. Taylor’s regular reminder at company meetings is, if you don’t want to work here, go find another job … and that is exactly what many smart, talented, capable employees have and are doing. If you haven't been laid off, you are probably trying to quit. If you are considering working for SHRM, really consider what you are signing on for. It’s a crappy economy and if you need a job and this is the only one, then do what you have to do but with eyes wide open. If you have other options or want to be treated with respect and be happy at work, dig deeper. Consider going somewhere else. From one generally happy, enthusiastic, over-achieving person, this place will drain your joy and confidence.