Irvine Company reviews

Company has changed drastically within this past year. The reorganization started in 2014 which marked the company's 150's anniversary. Was supposed to be a year of inspiration but turned into a year of our downfall. They changed the company from being a people and service based company to being a numbers based company. This goes for outside the company with the customers to inside the company with their own employees. There was a drastic change. They took away all of the perks that employees got (discounted rent at irvine company communities, comp'd rent for certain positions, etc) in order to maximize their dollar to get market rent from everyone. Their executive team RUINED the company with their quick drastic decisions: They shut down divisions without weighing the pros/cos, removed employee perks, changed the structure of how people lease/operate without weighing the pros/cons which caused so much confusion in the field and after everything was rolled out they quit the company!! So we were left with a company in disarray, no more morale left, no one knew what the goals were and everyone ended up quitting, including myself. There must have been hundreds out of the 2,000 people that left the company at the same time (early this year 2015). Even the president of the company (who was there for over 20 years) quit right after. Everyone that was a mentor and had long tenure with the irvine company all left. If that's not a sign of a sinking ship I don't know what is. They completely changed their priority to be a numbers based company and everyone felt that; we are now just a number. Everyone that is left there now has NO CLUE what they are doing and it just seems like no one can make any decisions any more or they are too scared to make decisions. They have a new president Chaz but he doesn't carry the same inspiring influence that the previous president Kevin did and he is very dry and numbers based. It's so sad that the company took a turn for the worse. I started out my career in love with what the company stood for (People Service People) and we were thriving. Now it's unrecognizable. Would highly recommend anyone that wants integrity and to feel fulfilled in what they do and not feel like another number to reconsider working here. Maybe give the company 10-15 years to recover from this because it will take that long if not longer for them to get back to what they used to be.

A few years ago the culture within the Company was positive and thriving. We were working together, the company was growing and upper management seemingly cared about employees. A cultural change occurred when a power shift happened within the company. Many of the most competent high level execs were fired as a less respected employee quickly ascended and gained power. Dialogue and alternate opinions were no longer tolerated. Employees quickly learned to take direction and follow. Team spirit all but disappeared as fear dominated. Virtually all the bright, thinking, competent top executives were fired. The company presently has a dictatorial feel. Decisions are made from the top, with minimal input from the people who are experts in the various departments. The result is incompetence all around. It feels as if the soul of the company is gone and the company is now in a mode where it responds rather than making thoughtful and planned decisions. It's very disheartening to be a part of this once great company and watch it flounder under heavy handed tactics. The last of the true cultural leaders of the Irvine Company have now been fired and many of us are very concerned about what the future holds for the company and Orange County. Many wonder if Don Bren fully understands the gamesmanship and manipulations that are going on.