Pros
There was room to move up in the company both through attrition of employees and doing a good job. This is a dual-edged sword. There is a company dodgeball tournament. I liked the senior management would play. Job titles didn't mean anything on the court so they were fair game. Ha! It was fun though I wish there was more of that fun based on what I write later. Senior management has a monthly state of the company meeting to talk about big developments or how they did at a recent market at a high level. Odds are you will drive against traffic because it is a long way north of Atlanta. Team members below management level are great to work with. I felt like I could go to battle with my team any day. Sometimes poor management galvanizes employees. Once again, a dual-edged sword. Seem to be growing... but at what cost.
Cons
Team Leadership Management of teams often was the cause for additional work because there was an extreme amount of micro-management. Deadlines would be conveyed to leadership but there was often not a response until literally 4:55 PM several days later. That means the worker has to stay late to make up for poor leadership and direction. Projects would be brought in the day they were due or after the fact in many instances even though they were know about for weeks. Teams should be lead by people with experience working in that area. That would speed the process up as well and lead to better work/life balance. When conversations in the office are always about the team leader (in a negative light unfortunately) there is an issue. But, despite numerous people telling upper management about the issues, the issues still remain. They will fire other people to try to fix the problem because they did not listen to the employee who actually knows. Sometimes it appears that there is favoritism. Sometimes management will change the subject immediately after an issue is brought up like they do not want to hear it. Why...? It is hurting the team and causing negative reviews. There are people in the company who really want it to grow and prosper. Don't let management be the reason why there is so much churn. It is not necessary. Hire for personality and the way they fit into the team they are on, fire for lack of ability and knowledge. Don't be scared of change. I felt like I had to keep every communication so I could point out who was the delay in getting things done. It got to the point where I would communicate by email alone so I could have record of what was said. I found it sad, and humorous to some degree, that my director would ask for things that were sent to them already. They didn't check their email because they got too many they said. Sometimes the information that they asked for would be in our project tracking system right above where they put their request for it. Use the tool! Management didn't hold themselves accountable for their action or inaction in some cases. Don't approve something if you obviously didn't look at it. Also, don't threaten employees in regards to their job. That is not professional at all and makes you look like a child to them. You don't earn respect that way. Work/Life balance In my experience, it was not very good. We were expected to stay well over our working hours to get things done. I didn't have trouble doing that but when it becomes an expectation and not the exception, there is something wrong. When the company does their catalog, I know several people on the marketing team had to stay all night to get it to the printer in time. They went the extra mile to get it done for the company. I salute you for you are a big reason the company makes money. My questions is did the management do the same thing since they were the ones late on their delivery to the marketing team. Better preparation and direction... That would speed the process up and lead to better work/life balance for all employees. Family insurance rates When someone left the company several months ago, they told me about the cost of family insurance. It was outrageous. It was cheaper for them to go outside of the company for insurance by about $300 a month, or about $3600 a year. Consider doing this if you have a family. I would recommend Surya look into a larger provider that could offer more reasonable rates. When they left, the company also charged then for a full months of insurance even though they missed about half the month. That is shady to me. Trust The longer I was with the company, the more reason I had to be wary of promises. Some things that were promised never materialized for whatever reason. After seeing how people were let go from Surya, I felt like I always had to watch my back even though I was doing the best I could given the circumstances. I take pride in getting things done on time and I didn't trust I would have the resources to do it. It seemed that there were people who didn't have any trouble telling leadership what other employees were talking about in private. HR There is no real HR team/person. Forget about finding out how much vacation time you have. You will get a rude response in the tone of "How dare you ask that." I wanted to respond in kind but instead imagined about taking a 2-week vacation and not submitting the time or saying the HR refused to help me with how many days I had. I don't think they keep records for HR-related things otherwise asking a question as simple as how much time off do I have could easily be answered. Also, asking the HR person for a simple letter stating that you will no longer be an employee there is impossible. I heard that it took someone til the day before they left to get something like that.
