- Mega-merger (5 companies into 1). This was more than this company could chew. I suppose it sounded like a wonderfully profitable idea on paper. Reality has been quite dismal.
- Senior Leadership Team. The company used to be a nice split between employee-focused and client-focused, which in turn, drove profits up organically. Our big company meetings would show what cool things employees were doing (or going to do) followed by an inspirational pep talk by the original and genuinely excited CEO. Now we get talks about EBIDA and sales projections dictated to us by a not-so-genuine and uninspiring CEO and SLT.
- Communication is a huge problem. Big changes that alter people's lives are dropped instantly and without warning. All under the guise of "strategic planning." The problem is every strategic plan seems to involve laying off employees.
- And with that...lots of talent and product knowledge walking out the door. This makes everyone's job harder and takes time away from exciting new projects.
- Developer jobs cut in favor of overseas hires. If you are applying to be a developer at this company, just know that your job could eventually find its way to India.
- Pay is on the low side of average (especially for dev workload)
- Clients (i.e. teachers and students) are the ones paying the price for these "strategic" decisions. That's what happens when your focus is on the money and not the product and people who build, sell, and implement it.
- A once-great culture has been all but wiped out. They love to use the word. They love to say it out loud to try and convince people it exists. It doesn't.
- This experience has proved to me that a hierarchal corporate structure isn't always the solution. We used to be a "flat organization." It was much better without borders.
- Leadership used to care about what employees thought of them. Reviews didn't just run downhill. We were asked (frequently) to rate leaders. Now, all we have is Glassdoor and who knows if any of them even read this stuff.
