The biggest challenge has been the company’s traditional reliance on informal, on-the-job training. There are lots of smart people here and the assumption has been we learn from one another. As is evident in these reviews, it wasn’t working great. Formal training was only recently established to augment OJT, ranging from developing an increasingly robust on-line video learning library with associated learning curriculum (still clearly a work in progress) to formal externally-led live sessions. More is needed, but it’s nice to see a start to addressing the need.
Company communications have also been an issue. Relying on the company newsletter to share company happenings has not been sufficient. The CEO hosts a quarterly all-employee company status presentation. The subjects used to be high-level and inspirational, which were great the first time you heard them but got old quickly. He seems to be listening to feedback. The info shared has become very detailed and direct, surprisingly so for a company this size. On the last one he shared recognition of things that have not been working well (many captured in reviews here) and his plans to fix them. That was nice to see since it shows management cares about creating a strong environment for us to work in.