Pros
They've got plenty of industry recognition and they look great on social media. The "culture" pitch is a great selling point, but not ever site is bought in, so sometimes the message falls flat. If you don't have a good manager, you'll be out of luck in that respect.
Cons
After nearly 16 years of company loyalty, I feel like looking for a new job. It pains me to say that, and I’ve considered it more than once over the years, but this time it’s really hard to ignore. I haven’t been disciplined, my performance has not changed, and I haven’t been approached. I'm just getting to a point where I can’t stand to be a part of the company anymore. I see regular posts on LinkedIn celebrating the company for all of their women’s initiatives and truly there is a great representation in the top 5% of the company. They are certainly on brand in their diversity. If only this were the case on the small scale. My site director is “a real man’s man”. They refer to him as “the cowboy” because he often thinks he doesn’t have to play by the rules, instead making his own path. One of my first interactions when he came to the company was a review of our team org chart were he said, “Where are all the men on this account?’ Not a great first impression, but I tried to move past it. Later he took the job that was offered to me by his predecessor and gave it instead to a man. A year and a half later, we had two opportunities come up for promotion – finally, maybe I would get the chance to lead my own account. And I did, temporarily. I got the short term job, while the permanent one went to one of my male colleagues. Once the temporary account had come to a close I was shifted to a new, lower paying position on a different account. Now I had to report to a man with terrible social anxiety who wouldn’t look me in the eye for the first six months. When I was nominated for a special recognition (not by my direct manager) the speech he provided at the recognition luncheon included him mentioning how he didn’t really want me on his team “in the beginning”. That was humiliating for me, a regular top performing manager whom had been recognized several times previously, left feeling unwanted instead of elated at a recognition event. I had no choice but to bide my time, hoping that eventually another opportunity would present itself. I was offered up to a previous account to assist with a special training project, ultimately moving me backwards another step and landing me back where I had been 2 years earlier. At least I got away from the guy with all the anxiety, that was a silver lining. But it would be short lived. In the meantime, as I was working between two different accounts, I was used as a scapegoat not once but twice by the man serving as our Client Solutions Manager. Feigned apologies only made so much of a difference when my relationships with both clients became damaged as a result. My new-old manager was at least tolerable in a “devil-you-know” kind of way, but it didn’t make him easy to work for. He was prone to outbursts, had shouting matches with managers and clients alike, and often worked to “mentor” younger female employees. He had an upcoming vacation, and was leaving me with the bulk of his workload. I could certainly manage, most of it I had done before when I was an OM. In preparation, however, I was asked to handle it for two months leading up to his two week vacation “for practice”. He was released on his first day back from that vacation. I am still handling his workload for the account, but “we couldn’t justify replacing him” so no promotion, no pay increase, but now I have the work of two people to manage. And the anxious guy I was stuck with before? He’s my boss again. My last manager was released in May, but I’ve been handling most of the work since March. Even today. We had a potential client visit coming up, for an energy account (which happens to be my area of expertise). I mentioned to “the cowboy” that I’ve been through a few ramps, and it’s in my arena. His response was a laugh. I think that was when I lost respect for him and the company that continues to support him. They even just gave him a second site to manage. In looking at his new org chart, I have to ask “where are all the women in this site?” Agent staffing for both of these sites is predominately female, with a lot of diversity. Leadership however is nothing but predominately white/Caucasian men. How successful is that women’s initiative, anyway?