I have proudly worked at some of the worlds largest companies over a span of 20+ years and have never experienced a place quite like this.
- The company itself is making money hand-over fist, buying up other car rental companies all over the world, yet the headquarters is run on a budget of a teenager when it comes to its employees. This is the 'cheapest' company I have ever seen.
Here are a few examples:
- If you are issued a laptop or desktop expect the bare-minimum - For the most part they still run 32bit operating systems with 2gb or less of physical memory. It gets hard to do your job with these bare-bones systems and a lot of people end up using their own personal equipment in order to simply get their job done.
- If you are in a position that requires travel (education or conferences for example), you will be required to share a hotel room with a coworker!! REALLY?!
- Obtaining software to do your job can be difficult. Even requesting the slightest software will require "third level" approval... Your bosss', bosss' boss!! I understand the need to control costs, but here they take it to the extreme.
- Company items... Everything from computers to the pens in the office supply room are the absolute cheapest that can be obtained. Even the phones are horrible.
- There are constant "reorgs" here (corporate HQ)... And when I say constant, that is speaking conservitively. This is perhaps the biggest problem with the company. A 'reorg' here is not the same as with other large companies (typically)... It just means that the department is going to be changed around quite a bit and you will yet again have a different manager to report to. Teams and processes change so frequently that it is extremely difficult to have real success. You really can't gain traction and build upon your accomplishments as a team (or department) if you change things around every 6 months or so. This is very troubling and stressful. A lot of great talent has left this company because of this.
- (While in the ISO):
- Many inexperienced managers who had their own idea of security and people management skills. Don't get me wrong... There are some who are extremely qualified... Then there are a few that miss the ball completely... When you hire in an inexperienced manager from the help desk to run a security department, it is a disaster for the employees - Especially when they consider themselves God-like.
- This was the lowest point of my career and never felt more unappreciated and undervalued in my life.
- Being run by a director who likes to use employee resources off-hours to help solve problems of 'friends' who don't even work for the company!
- Advancement can be difficult depending on who your manager is. They love to dangle that carrot in front of you. I think a lot of this once again comes down to 'budget'. The best way for advancement while staying with the company is to apply internally to other organizations.
- Benefits and pay are only low-average at best. If you have worked at other large companies in the area, you will definitely understand.
- Departments seem bloated from over staffing.
- Only the corporate location has a cafeteria. Others have vending machines and food trucks (sometimes) with limited choices.
