Pros
Many employees are quite friendly. The company is growing quickly so new people arrive regularly. The location is surprisingly public transit accessible and has lots of parking. My team was friendly and helpful and made me feel welcome, albeit from a distance. Benefits package matches similar manufacturing companies in the sector.
Cons
The company has two platforms upon which it operates: extreme secrecy, and extreme budgetary constraint. Unfortunately these two factors result in considerable corporate malaise. Inefficiency runs rampant, the result of blatantly ineffective processes, overpromoted managers with practical skills but no management abilities, and underinvestment in employees (including misleading or outright lying on the part of HR and others). Overbearing secretiveness also has its dangers, resulting in rampant cliques of employees with access to certain knowledge or resources they refuse to share (even with orders from above), widespread sabotage by unhappy employees, dubious touched-up paperwork when real data can’t be acquired, and inter-employee spying. From all this come project delays and missed deadlines, a conspiratorial mindset, and a strangely pervasive unwillingness to save in the long term if short term savings can be achieved. A weird silence – especially in areas near management – is strictly enforced by higher ups. I was told on my second day not to talk unless necessary, and though not as strict as that, there is definitely a pervasive sense of solitude and the need to look busy. Though by no means widespread, I also faced or witnessed routine sexual, racial, or homophobic comments or actions by members of staff. An alternately combative and ineffective HR team surely didn’t help the situation. Combined, these “cons” have helped push me out of ZT Systems.