Salaries are humiliating.
The bonus scheme was so small it hardly served as an incentive. (I'm not sure the bonus scheme still exists)
The share scheme has been suspended. I doubt it'll return. This is a shame because it made up for poor salaries and was a good tool for employee retention.
The appraisal experience was pointless. In principle it's a great idea; aligning employee needs to that of the business etc. In practice it was a bureaucratic waste of time that typically led to an awkward end of year review for both employee and line manager since it didn’t matter how good or bad you were, everyone got the same. Pay rises depended on performance but the increments on offer actively put employees off pursuing anything.
Career opportunities are virtually non-existent. There have been cases where employees have used the appraisal process to progress agreeing goals with their line manager, work towards it all year, meet those targets, and then be told they will not be promoted or compensated.
The only other theoretical way of advancement is 'in-band' progression. However, since this is all geared toward a sensible pay rise if goals are met, and Sage refuse to reward its staff through market rate compensation, the idea is folly.
The new ethos is 'having to over-achieve to 'achieve''.
The current restructuring is of course a difficult time for Sage but there won't be too many, if any people who fail to understand the need for that change - even when it affects their own positions. However, the way that change has been delivered is a shambles.
Top tier management flown in to execute breed a culture of narcissism and set unachievable targets for the company to follow. It's an indicator that they do not understand or think they do not need to understand the nature of the business in order to bring about a successful restructure.
The net result is the process is a lot more painful than it needs to be, and a lot skilled experienced people have left the business.
