Pros
If you manage to find the right company and the right team and the right manager, you will be happy day to day. That's where I find myself. My team is smart and driven. We like each other and we have genuine rapport. But that is my small team within a larger company which is within an even larger company.
Cons
I have no vendetta here. Like everyone else around me I am confused, concerned, and looking for a new job (even though I don't want one). How do I know everyone around me is looking for a new job? I've been asked to give references, I've been on the receiving end of frustrated phone calls and daily conversations when meeting makers pop up circle around "do you think layoffs are about to happen?" I don't think management intends to scare everyone off or make everyone worry. I do think there is a history of not considering the lives and ambitions of employees or the mixed messages, confusion, constant process changes, and the unending busy work presented each time a new guy takes over. For instance, our company which is within the portfolio of Solera had layoffs before we were sold off to Solera. Our CEO pasted on the wall "we are maniacal about metrics!" I never understood this outside the desire for alliteration. The next CEO declared "60/40", "70/30", "90/10". These were the focuses you were supposed to put on different things but the emperor had no clothes. It was never mentioned outside of company-wide emails or if we were in a meeting with those at the very top. It made sense to no one as far as I could tell. Around the same time we were required to complete monthly trainings on computer safety. Let me be clear. My work schedule is insanely busy and I am required to document how much time I put toward my real work every day...but if you don't complete these trainings (which are sometimes lengthy) you start getting constant reminders that you are not in compliance. Also, with this CEO we were constantly promised raises and never received them and it would just be blown off. We are given goals that we have to reach for our jobs and our bosses report to us whether we meet them or not but there is no reward if we do. Also, we were drug tested like we were criminals. Even people who never deal with the public, drive, or leave their homes and work remotely were drug tested. With the "maniacal" CEO we had decent health insurance. He sold us off with little security to longstanding employees and with literally nothing. The top guys walked away very wealthy and those who had been with them from the beginning were left with their jobs, no thank you note, no heads up, and no compensation for helping them become rich men. With Solera, I have stopped going to the doctor completely except for my yearly check up it is that bad. You pay completely out of pocket up to $1,500 and then 10% after that plus a copay. I just finished paying off a bill from 2 years ago and it was killing my family. Also, it doesn't matter if you are single parent with one child or a married parent with 3 children. You'll pay the same. The plan favors married people with more than one child. Also, we just received notice that our premiums are going up and with still no raises I am now making less money than I was 6 years ago. On to our newest CEO who was hired after the non-raise giving CEO was pushed out. He had what seemed to be good ideas. He was positive and took suggestion from employees. I had faith we might actually get a raise (and let me be clear, in 6 years I have had one raise just over 2%). After 6 months he was gone and no one explained why except to say "he was great, he had good ideas, he was on the right trajectory but it didn't work out". Was he fired? Did he walk out? Who knows. We have an interim CEO who is from the board. On top of all of the other busy work we were given we were now required to "take a test" which was akin to a shortened version of the SAT. I took the SAT many years ago and did well. I have advanced degrees and I'm darn good at my job. Why should anyone have to take a test like this? On top of it, it made us take a personality test which they said would not affect our current job but may affect future promotions and raises. So, let me be clear, if I work half heartedly and do a so so job but score perfectly I'll be in line for a raise? If I work 50 hour weeks and am the best on my team but don't remember my Algebra lessons then I might as well start looking because I'll never get ahead? We've also been called into multiple brain-storming sessions and meetings.
