Pros
It is amazing to be part of an organization that puts such creative and groundbreaking art to the stage and is world famous. It is truly exceptional to see a live show and be part of its success, it is a herculean task to create an opera. Matthew Shilvock's leadership is great and so is the DEC team which has been at the forefront lately in creating programing to develop and train company members in DEI issues.
Cons
The employees in the company are way too burnt out, and it is apparent from every angle as they are crying for help, with way too many expectations on the line without being able to take PTO and complete lack of work life balance. There is too much going on with the pressures of the centennial season and simultaneous projects being dumped on extremely short-staffed departments. There is a lack of focus on employee wellness and betterment. Almost every employee is dealing with stress relating to the workload and is wearing multiple hats, there is no room for employees to voice their concerns and issues as it does not seem like a safe space. There is always a push to start new projects, without old ones being completed and its an endless cycle of playing catch up for the employees, as there is so much happening all at once and the workload is face paced and out of control. They are paying much below industry wages, with no bonuses or additional compensation opportunities. Employees who leave the company often leave because the wages were so low, a comp analysis needs to be done from an outside consultant as the wages for different roles don't make any sense and are out of touch with reality/market value. There is no focus on performance reviews or company wide trainings, as the HR department is so short staffed and has had high turnover over the years due to the workload being so high and tedious. They only hire 2-3 people in the HR team and that is definitely not enough people power to deal with all the issues happening in the company, such a small HR team cannot run properly with so many employees seeking day to day support, and the work therefore becomes extremely transaction with no focus on future thinking and planning. It is about time the people at the company start being valued and the management stopped being so out of touch with reality. The company leadership is extremely disoriented and dysfunctional, there is lots of politics and drama happening and lack of cohesion, top down decision making is apparent as employee voices aren't prioritized. The technology being used is bad and there is dysfunctional and chaos all over, with lack of processes and guidelines in place to streamline archaic processes. Even employees are super old school and refuse to learn new technology and processes. There is a strong lack of diversity, and often people of color are not paid/promoted as often as white folks. The diversity team can do more to in collaboration with HR to bring about more equitable practices, fairness, and diversity within hiring.