Pros
- Casual atmosphere - Great co-workers - team members are loyal to and support each other - Pay is decent to good - Local middle managers try their best to make work life tolerable for their teams
Cons
- Very much a heads-down atmosphere; people stay in their cubes - No opportunity for advancement in many departments - Brain drain is happening as long-time employees are leaving for jobs with more growth opportunities, better benefits, and more appreciation of their contributions - Budgets for continuing education (even half- or one-day conferences or workshops) or travel for work are non-existent - Work/life balance has fallen by the wayside; middle managers work extremely long hours, and the unspoken expectation is that the employees will, too - Middle management is hobbled by the micro-management and insane workloads insisted upon by upper management; workloads have doubled or even tripled in some departments, with no corresponding rewards or incentives - Health benefits have steadily eroded, while raises have been minimal - Too many acquisitions and constant attempts to re-align divisions leave employees unable to keep up with structural changes - Upper management and executive management seem disconnected from "regular" employees