Pros
There are some positive elements to working at SCS Global Services, especially if you are a recent college graduate with low salary expectations and limited professional experience, or are desperate to break into the sustainability field. You will have colleagues that are passionate about sustainability and environmental conservation, who will be valuable connections to leverage when looking for your next job. Many people become friends, mostly due to experiencing the shared trauma of working at SCS Global Services together. Benefits are excellent, and the 50% 401k match (10% vesting each year, fully vested after 5 years) is great - but you won't have sufficient salary to contribute much. The office has spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, providing nice walks when you need to escape from the insanity.
Cons
I worked at SCS Global Services for more than 8 years, but should have resigned after just 2. I hopefully and foolishly believed that my hard work and dedication could drive positive change to antiquated systems and business processes, but failed to promptly recognize that senior management is lacking the skills and vision to affect such change. More broadly, most of the management team proved unable to strategically and effectively lead, manage, and grow the company. The most obvious impediment to the company’s success is the CEO, who exhibits many of the incoherent, narcissistic, and dictatorial traits of someone like Donald Trump. The CEO fails to hold underperforming and unsupportive managers accountable for their performance, and creates a toxic working environment through his egotistical incompetence and absence of business acumen. Unfortunately, SCS Global Services will continue to struggle until he resigns from his role, and hires a competent and qualified replacement. Even then, a full overhaul of senior managers would likely be needed to allow SCS Global Services to achieve its mission and growth expectations, while reducing excessive staff attrition. An entry level position consists primarily of administrative tasks that could easily be automated with an effective database & workflow tool, like Salesforce. The daily tasks are mind-numbing and repetitive, and do not allow for professional growth beyond learning how to electronically file documents, and perform email and phone communications. I witnessed 2 lengthy attempts to build an internal database, both of which failed due to poor design and implementation by unqualified parties. As a manager, you will spend a minimum of 6 months intensively training each new staff member. The work requires robust technical knowledge, and the database requires significant time to comprehend and navigate. It is common for staff to leave after fewer than 2 years, so be prepared to spend much of your time training. You will not receive any management training, nor will you have adequate resources to complete your responsibilities, but will still be expected to lead your team to reach quarterly goals. You will have to resolve hits to your staff's morale due to poor leadership, guidance, and support from senior management. Pray that you will not need human resources, where the team positions have been a revolving door. You will attend management meetings with no clear goal, and often be instructed to complete a task or project only to be told later to focus your efforts in a different direction. In looking at older glassdoor reviews, you will see a clear trend of staff complaints that remain unresolved from many years prior; issues which continue to plague employee morale, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. While the CEO and senior managers are aware of staff concerns, they take no effort to resolve the issues, fearful of losing their bloated salaries and bonuses by rocking the boat, and the freedom they enjoy with the absence of accountability for their performance. The company mission is altruistic and is the primary reason SCS Global Services continues to attract talented, passionate, driven, and intelligent employees. SCS Global Services is positively recognized within the industries they serve. This firm is best used as a stepping stone to your next job, as it takes a very rare situation to justify staying too long. Godspeed to anyone brazen enough to willingly subject themselves to working at this company.