alliantgroup, LP reviews

A lot of these reviews point to hours worked as a con at alliantgroup. That wasn't the problem for me. Yes, we were expected to be there from 8:30 to 6:30 AT LEAST (and were encouraged not to leave for lunch). I was okay with those hours as long as there was work to do. But at aliantgroup, I faced pressure to stay EVEN IF I didn't have work to do. Not a busy day? Too bad...hang out until 7 or you'll be judged. That was just one part of the "culture" that alliantgroup was so proud of. The leadership at alliantgroup expect work to be your life, your coworkers to be your best friends. They through several parties a year. I expressed to a coworker that I was going to skip the Halloween party, and she told me that not attending parties would be frowned upon and I might not get promoted if I didn't attend such events (which were just booze-filled parties where too many people drove home after hours of drinking at work). We were also lectured for not staying until 9pm or later during tax season if we saw a coworker that was still there working. The problem I had with that guilt trip was that some people treated all workday like social hour and then had to stay late to do their work. I didn't feel that we should have to stay late - seemed like punishment for getting our work done during the day. I also witnessed incredible sexism, racism, and homophobia in the workplace that was laughed at or ignored (even by the HR department when such behavior was brought to their attention). I know that the company is working to increase the diversity, but that attempt at diversity is undercut when you allow a fraternity house atmosphere to take over a workplace. I was often made uncomfortable by comments I heard. Despite the fact that alliantgroup lists transparency as one of its corporate values, I found the workplace at alliantgroup to be anything BUT transparent. People were fired all the time and just disappeared. There was a lack of communication between Associates and leadership. While at alliantgroup, I was required to attend meetings with the HR department in which HR staff asked me questions about other employees on my team. I felt awkward as it wasn't clear if they were asking these questions to help with promotions or firings. They certainly asked about specific individuals. alliantgroup does have a track for promotion. If you start as an Associate, you should be a Senior Associate within 6 months to a year (if it takes you too much longer than that, they'll see that as you "not buying into" the culture and fire you - direct quote stated to a coworker of mine). And you get a big raise when you get promoted. However, the training program was awful. And, while I felt very supported by my direct supervisor and associates in my training class, it was a stressful, unpleasant experience. Turnover is pretty incredible. You would walk into work and someone you knew would just be gone. Overnight. Like they were never there at all. They did not encourage you to keep in touch with former coworkers. If you become a senior employee, you'll be training a new person every month. Because turnover is crazy and new people start every week. Classes of 20+ new employees in a week were not rare. This is probably part of the culture problem, but most people at alliantgroup were between the ages of 22 and 28. I was close to end of that range and felt old sometimes. Not a mature workplace. Clients occasionally mentioned employees' ages, and we were discouraged from talking about our age or how long we had been with the company. They talk A LOT about bonuses and a "meritocracy" where your ambition in your only limit. But, without going into detail, bonuses aren't based on quality of work (for the most part, there are some bonuses based on client satisfaction), they're based on hours worked. And not all hours count. So if you're working on a particular client's file, your hours might not count and you won't be getting a bonus. So, not all hard work is rewarded.

After a few months, the shiny and new wears off, and you will realize that you have no work-life balance. The people who are high performers have managed to delegate their work to others around or below them, which enables them to leave a little earlier...as in leaving by 7-7:30 pm instead of later. Most of the highest performers work their weekends, and go home and work some more on their assignments at night. This was frequently expressed and repeated by these individuals, as if there is truly a need to let everyone know that they are working very, very hard. It is looked down upon if you don't work this much, all the time, at all times. The training program is constantly changing, but not truly evolving. The people who come in only a couple of weeks behind you will be put into a completely different trend of training and classes. Overall, the training is inconsistent, confusing, and the grading given can be mostly subjective. There is also the issue of some individuals getting personalized training, and others being left on an island and boggled down with work assignments that keep them from developing. When this disparity occurs, management, as in their team Directors and Associate Directors, are constantly bringing in the individual for constant updates and micromanagement discussions on where the individual thinks they stand in comparison to the newer trainees who are given more tools and increased help and mentor-ship from the very beginning. The Company constantly insists on development, personal work and being rewarded for your hard work, but their tools are few and far in between to fully develop their associates into rounded employees. The opportunity for bonuses on top of your base salary are possible, but they are extremely difficult and at times are unrealistic for younger employees. Priority and tools are given to the Senior Associates, and those Associates who have managed to become very, very, very friendly with their Directors and Associate Directors. If your Director, who is the decision maker along with all the other Directors on the floor on whether you advance or not, decides that they don't see much potential in you (this can happen very, very early on at this Company), then you will not be developed. This is subtle and very prolonged when this happens. You will not be given the tools, and you'll work even harder trying not to sink and get the ax.