Simplify Compliance Reviews

I used to feel nothing but loyalty for this company, and it used to be a great place to work. I am grateful for the career development and skill building I received in my time with the organization—some of which was gained through wholly positive experiences. But this is no longer the same company, and I would be doing potential hires, some of whom would be my peers in my industry, a disservice by letting them wander unsuspecting into the can of worms that awaits. I also think it’s important for current employees of this organization to have some insight into, and empathy for, what your colleagues in other departments and locations may be experiencing. - Read through the other reviews and you’ll see countless mentions of reorganizations and layoffs. I truly don’t understand it, but this organization operates in one of two extremes. You’re going to be subject to constant change and ridiculous stagnation, both at the same time. Things that would benefit from stability—organizational structures, hierarchies, product strategies, business plans, where your desk is—seem to change at least every two years. As soon as you adjust to a new boss, that person will be transferred (or laid off). As soon as you begin to figure out your workload, your job will change—or you’ll just be required to absorb the work of someone they laid off and won’t replace. Even the company name changes frequently (note that there are Glassdoor entries for BLR and Simplify Compliance). Rather than figure out how to make the most of the staff and products the company has, they keep going out and acquiring other organizations, with no apparent strategy for integrating the new assets beyond “growth.” On the other hand, the things that would actually benefit from change never do. For example, there are processes and products that should go away, but they keep chugging along on life support, adding to the workloads of people who are already doing the work of two, sometimes three people. The company’s flagship product might as well be run on a Commodore 64 powered by an asthmatic hamster. The company needs fresher technology, web development, and an integrated content management system, but instead of investing thoughtful resources and research into acquiring them and improving customer experience and staff efficiency, they just buy another training business. People’s time is not viewed as the valuable resource it should be because it “doesn’t cost the company” anything to ask someone working 60-80 hours per week to just add one more thing to his or her plate. Eventually, the workload becomes unsustainable and people quit and/or the work just doesn’t get done, then it becomes someone else’s problem. - You’ll also see lots of comments about low pay, and they’re all true. But even more troublesome is the fact that, thanks to the relentless reorganizations and acquisitions and layoffs, this company’s pay practices are completely illogical and inequitable. You have direct reports making more than their managers—and the managers know it (awkward!) You have people who have been with the company for 20 years who barely make more than new hires. You have people with advanced degrees and job-required licenses and credentials making less than people without them. You have people “promoted” to new roles (roles they often don’t even want) for negligible (if any) pay increases and no consideration or retroactive pay for the months they were already doing the work. You have people doing the same job in two different locations (with comparable cost of living), but one makes 10-15% more for the same experience and work. You also have the occasional person who somehow slides under the radar and barely puts in a 40-hour week, yet receives the same job title and pay as others doing 3x as much work. - This lack of pay equity then deflates wages because as people leave the organization, replacements are then sought for as little pay as possible, whether this means “promoting” people without a commensurate pay increase or recruiting for the role at such laughably low pay that the openings aren’t filled for months until the work is just absorbed by someone else (who then quits). You also have a company based in Nashville that wants to reap the rewards of Nashville’s growth and It City status—yet still pay its employees 1990s wages. - Any time you have inequitable pay practices, you also end up with a lot of “grass is greener” jealousy and resentment among departments, and there’s a lot of that here. Department X thinks it sure must be nice to be in Department Y, not realizing that those people haven’t had a day off in six months. Department Y thinks there’s favoritism in Department Z. Department Z thinks Department A is lazy. Department A complains about a company perk because they can’t figure out a way to make it work for their team, so everyone loses it. Everyone is unhappy, everyone is overworked, and everyone is underpaid. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be many options to fix these things (other than leave), so colleagues take the frustrations out on each other. Whatever department you’re in, you’re convinced that you’re underpaid—and you’re right—and that everyone else must be the ones making all the money off of all these big sales—but you’re wrong. Unless you have the word “chief” in your job title (maybe not even then), you’re probably not being paid anywhere near what you’re worth. But hey, if you work really hard, maybe you’ll get nominated for a company recognition award. Also, there’s beer cart. Don’t forget that beer cart. - After a particularly devastating and abrupt round of layoffs in 2018, morale reached an all-time low. Since, the company has steadily lost long-time workers, institutional knowledge, and specialized talent faster than HR will even approve a poorly-drafted and incomplete job description to fill the vacancy. You might think this would be an eye-opening situation that would cause the company to retrench and try to figure out how to stop, or at least slow, the talent drain. You’d be wrong, though. There seems to be an enduring mentality (I heard it implied and explicitly spoken by members of upper management on more than one occasion) that the people who work here and stay here are a bunch of second-string underdogs who don’t actually have any other, better options. Ouch, right? Apparently, this organization STILL doesn’t realize how much opportunity is out there for hard working, intelligent people right now. I’m actually curious how many more people they will have to lose before they figure it out. But hey, free bagels! - Speaking of HR: If you weren’t the one dealing with the effects, it would be laughable how out of touch (and sometimes noncompliant) this company’s HR practices are, seeing as how one of the things they do is sell HR training and compliance materials to employers. This company is the Dunder Mifflin of HR compliance. For example, the lack of communication is astounding. HR “doesn’t believe in” organizational charts. They also don’t believe in company-wide communication to let you know when people leave the organization. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, right? Except when you can’t get information or answers about a work project because no one told you the project owner left the company a month ago and you have no idea who took over for that person. And it’s not just bad news that isn’t shared. Last year a 25+-year well-known employee retired, but there wasn’t even a company-wide e-mail sent about it. Heaven forbid people want to congratulate someone for finally getting out.