Think Twice - Hard - Anonymous employee Enlightened Employee Review

Where to begin…senior leadership (eg, the CEO and CFO) lacks integrity and has questionable ethics. I have personally experienced several occasions where the CEO or CFO – sometimes both, together – have lied to me about substantial issues, for example, advocating padding employee hours in order to increase those billable hours to the client – then denying that was the message conveyed, even though it was conveyed in front of others. They have also lied about changing position pay rates for new employees after those rates had been established for previous employees in the same labor category, claiming ignorance when confronted as to why the salary was suddenly lowered. I have witnessed the CEO – on multiple occasions – publicly chastise subordinates, as an apparent method to control them thru fear and intimidation. I advised the CEO against taking certain actions on my contract as I believed his actions were counter to corporate interests and client intent and/or contract stipulations, only to be told that I must not disagree with him (incidentally, the CEO’s actions did have a negative impact on the company, both in terms of its reputation with the client as well as monetarily). Senior leadership – the CEO and CFO – have created a poisonous corporate culture, for which they refuse to acknowledge any type of responsibility (and it has been brought to their attention on multiple occasions by internal and external corporate advisors, and ignored in each instance). They motivate by fear, intimidation, and manipulative charm (which lasts only for so long – the cliché “actions speak louder than words” is very appropriate when dealing with this company’s leadership). As a result, most of the headquarters workforce is unhappy or afraid, or both – this poison is also very noticeable to field elements that come to headquarters for meetings. Many people have left after a relatively short period of time, sometimes without even lining up new jobs before submitting their resignation. In the time I worked there the CEO went through 5 Executive Assistants, 3 Comptroller/Finance managers resigned (and another removed after only 4 months), nearly half a dozen recruiters have either resigned or were removed (the company now contracts out its recruiting operation), at least 3 Human Resources personnel have left, half a dozen front desk receptionists have either left or been removed, and more than half a dozen – depending on how one chooses to count them – Business Development personnel have cycled thru the company. The problem isn’t “everyone else”, it’s senior leadership. This corporate churn is unhealthy for any business, but is especially damaging for a Small Business looking to grow into a Large Business. It is also NEVER a good sign when the corporate finance operation is experiencing that high volume of turnover. The churn listed above occurred in the space of 19 months. The current Operations Manager – the longest tenured employee in the company - has notified senior leadership he will be leaving after nearly 7 years, which means the next “senior” employee at the company will have a total of 3 years’ experience. There is no stronger statement about the instability and ill health of the corporate culture than these numbers. Good people leave. A manager in this company cannot expect support and decisive action by senior leadership. I was left to fend for myself when confronting a corporate teaming partner about documented violations of their subcontract agreement and blatantly unethical actions, because the CEO was afraid (in his words, “we can’t win in a war” with this company). When we did “win” by forcing this company to remove itself from the contract, it was because I held the line and not corporate leadership – a fact recognized by everyone in the company. Leadership fails to recognize their lack of political acumen sabotages their own position. They also fail to recognize they are building an industry reputation as an unreliable partner, which continues to build due to their self-oriented actions. I ceased being surprised at the unfavorable reactions I would get from other corporate contacts who were familiar with this company, when I identified myself as an employee. This company’s reputation precedes it. A manager at this company can also expect significant pushback from senior leadership if action needs to be taken against employees considered one of the CEO’s “preferred” employees. Female employees feel especially vulnerable in the face of workplace harassment. One notable entry posted on this website had spread thru the company particularly quickly; senior management and the CEO were repeatedly advised to get in front of these serious allegations and address them with the company. They never did; that fact alone speaks volumes about leadership’s mindset towards this company and its employees, blatant favoritism towards select employees, and tolerance of misconduct (or at least not addressing it to stop very damaging rumors from circulating). In no uncertain terms, stay away from this company. If you are in desperate need of a job, only stay until you find a company that has better leadership, a better corporate culture, and a more stable corporate operation. I began to recognize these problems as I spent more time with corporate leadership. I stayed to take care of my team I had developed for the project I was on, to see the project thru successfully, and to take care of the client whom I respected and knew well. I stayed too long.