Employees were basically lied to when being told we were acquiring one of our competitors. It was a merger plain and simple. I watched for over a year as many of my co-workers and leaders were let go and we ended up on the losing team. Favoritism was blatant when the company we acquired basically took over key departments in the company. True talent, experience, and skills were not relevant in assigning people to positions or giving promotions; it was only who you worked for before the merger and the buddy system. The HR department was one of the worst I have seen when it came to recruiting and talent acquisition. I tried everything to stay with the company by applying internally, but outside candidates were shown more respect and provided more help than internal employees. No one cared if you were unhappy in your department and did nothing to try and retain intelligent, talented, and highly productive people. We just walked out the door.