Work/life balance is a non-factor particularly for the department I worked in. Burn-out factory to the nth.
A point that was driven home to me when I took the job was the average tenure of employees that worked there. I believe I was told "14 years" as an average. I just had a child and was looking for a way to make a better life for me and my family and stability was a very attractive variable in my decision equation. In fact, this was so important to me that I took the job knowing they offered 1 week of vacation starting (from my 4 weeks that I used to have) and relatively inferior health insurance benefits. They offered an amazing bonus! I took a chance.
After two months, I knew I made a mistake. At first, it was the overwhelming amount of emails that got to you. Every. Single. Day. Then, it was the embarrassment of being chastised in group email distributions. Then, it was your ability to make progress on anything because you were lost wasting time on nuances that you couldn't let go because you were told to find a resolution on a problem that could occur when a far-reaching hypothetical may occur(but never could). Everything is controlled and micro-managed... through email. You watch as good people get fired or simply leave and your own happiness of your career path gets completely seeped away. There is no opportunity to blaze your own path. Anonymous feedback to management was met with "if you don't like it here, you can leave." I left.
At the end of my time here, I was the longest-tenured member of my team and I couldn't bear it to my 2-year mark. If you value any time of life beyond Equity, this is NOT the place for you. If you have kids, don't come to this department because you will miss them growing up. If you love to work, great, but no chance of recovery because for some reason 1 week of vacation is acceptable in the USA in 2018 (time of my hire). You will neither advance nor will you be happy with where you're at unless you are whipped like a slave and then like being whipped.
The department has a significant culture problem. Management created it or is it. Upper management simply doesn't care.
I'm sad because my instinct was to stay where I was, but I took a chance on an unknown. Equity killed my passion for what I've been doing for more than 15 years. I'm no longer in the industry and it was the direct result for working at Equity.
