Pros
I learned and developed a skill set that really benefitted my career and demand outside of Koch.
Cons
I was manipulated into the position in which I was placed. I was hired with one job title and within months it was changed to a different title. I was told that these job titles were within the same pay range. After very minimal research, it was quite clear that was not the case. The new job title should have been paying 20%-50% higher than the job I was hired as. I was in this position for 2 years without a single raise or bonus although I was assured that Koch was quite generous with bonuses. That was a lie. Work life balance is non-existent. The first month at Koch, I was asked to work the weekend along with a reassurance from senior leadership that they had never worked a weekend prior to that weekend during their entire tenure at the company. I came to find out that not only would I be working at least one weekend a month but I also found myself working late into the night and logging back on several times throughout the night. The gaslighting was the worst part of it. The managers in our group would tell us that it was our fault that we were working overtime and weekends that it had nothing to do with our workloads or delegations of work amongst the group. Instead of finding the root of the problem, they would tend to deflect the blame on us. During the peak of Covid, work life balance reached its worst point. After not receiving a raise or bonus for two years, I decided to approach my manager and ask for a raise. I presented them with my long list of tangible, highly measurable accomplishments within my time at Koch along with the proof of the severe underpayment I was experiencing and I was told that there was nothing that would be done. Raises and bonuses are given when an employee goes above and beyond their roles, responsibilities, and expectations contract they have with their manager and unless those are breached, nothing. The problem with that antiquated way of looking at an employees worth is that those are live documents within some teams (the one I was in) and are updated as the employee continues to take on additional responsibility which makes accomplishing this task simply impossible. The worst part of my time at Koch was the affect it had on my mental health. I had approached my manager many times telling them how my assignments were affecting my health physically and mentally. I asked for guidance and direction on my tasks in a response to helping with the stress. The response I received was that its not that big of a deal and I shouldn't worry so much. I was reprimanded by senior leadership not long after for the poor results during my time of distress even though I had reached out to my manager for help. Middle Managers have a tendency to throw their direct reports in the line of fire instead of taking responsibility themselves. After leaving Koch I am now dealing with a lot of residual trauma that I'm having to work through in hopes that it doesn't affect my future endeavors.
