Great company, but some challenges - Senior Manager IT Arm Employee Review

1.0
7 Nov 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Overall, it is a truly awesome company to work for...strong core values, good benefits package and really interesting technology. SoftBank acquisition has left the business as-is with the core exec continuing in post. Suggests a hands-off and keep doing what you are doing approach. Most people are really friendly and supportive...you feel part of the Arm community quickly. Senior leaders are approachable and welcoming - willing to listen and take action., provides great sense of connection. As you can imagine, they offer some great benefits (outside of pay) and there are plenty of social activities throughout the year. These offer a great opportunity for everyone to connect. If you join, you can expect a fast-paced environment where you will be working some of the thought leaders in the industry. Arm has lots to offer, but mostly you will get the opportunity to shape, define, and contribute to making it a continued success.

Cons

Now the hard truth, and critical feedback. Enterprise IT function is broken beyond belief. The CIO and leadership team make for a corrosive, self-motivated, and controlling environment. Personal motivations drive the core agenda of command and control. Department is plagued with politics and plays itself out on a grand scale. Lots of energy focused inwards debating and plotting the next move. This would be entertaining, if it were not a high-value business that has everything to play for. Unfortunately, many professional and committed employees have "left" the business out of sheer frustration at the utter chaos and behaviour that reigns. Most concerning is the level of proxy-discrimination that takes place when you dare to offer a professional opinion, or question a member of the inner circle. Simply put, do it and you are marginalised, excluded, or moved to a new role - no consultation or feedback provided just a HR business partner or director sending you email for a meeting in 15 mins. People seem to evaporate from the business. Here one day and then gone the next...suggestive or a culture of discard over invest and grow. Definitely not Arm shaped.

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Arm Response
8y
I want to respond to you personally because I care deeply about my team. Arm does need a lot from us and I need the best from all of my team for us to be successful. You are clearly really unhappy with how things are going with our team at the moment. This must be very difficult for you. I know that the world can sometimes look very different from different perspectives, and events given different meaning depending on where you stand. Perhaps not surprisingly the world looks very different to me. I am proud of what our team is doing in support of Arm. We are far from perfect, but I think that we try to do the right thing, and we try to give the best opportunity for our people. Overall, you spoke about Arm quite highly and mentioned several aspects which hold very true to me and many people across Arm - our culture, our impact and our community. Nevertheless, in regards to your other comments, I will try to really listen to your feedback, and challenge myself and my Leadership team to redouble our efforts. I’d be very happy to talk to you directly to hear more about your perspective, but if you don’t want to speak to me or your manager, I would strongly encourage you to speak to one of the People team and see if they can help talk this through with you so we can ensure we continue to take on constructive criticism and feedback. Andy Smith, CIO

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