Pros
Some very good people Good work-life balance including summer Fridays
Cons
The morale at VTS has plummeted in the last couple of years, and for good reason. Let's set aside the fact that there have been three rounds of layoffs, two of them significant. The layoffs themselves aren't exceptional as they are happening across the tech industry, so I won't complain too much about them. What has been exceptional is the way the layoffs have been handled. While most companies say they do layoffs as a last resort, here we've been told multiple times that even if they didn't have to do the layoffs, they would have done them anyway, "because it's the right thing to do" (direct quote). There was one or two moments of empathy expressed for the colleagues that were laid off, and then the rest of the announcement was celebratory. Thanks to these layoffs our financials are looking much better, we were told. When our colleagues are treated horribly when they're given the boot, and when their departure is celebrated, it makes the rest of us all feel far less valued and secure in our roles. Aside from the layoff situation, the employee engagement is in horrible shape. What used to be an open culture in which I felt our voices were valued has changed into a culture of fear and silence. At our all hands meetings, zoom chats are now disabled to prevent employees from commenting or asking questions. We used to be able to ask questions anonymously, but we now use a platform in which we are no longer anonymous and they are heavily moderated. We've been told that we shouldn't be afraid to ask questions with our names, and yet everyone at the company remembers when one employee asked a very reasonable question about our return to office policy and was sworn at in front of the entire company in response. There is zero psychological safety in this company.