My experience at Crowe Horwath was absolutely horrible. At first everything was fine until I disclosed my pregnancy and afterwards things went sour very fast which eventually resulted in them cutting my salary in attempts to force me to quit, which they succeeded.
I was hired on in the SALT department but came from a federal tax background. They knew I had no knowledge of SALT going into the job. I was excited for the opportunity and challenge to learn something new but I became very frustrated because there was no sense of guidance or leadership in the department. As a result I found it very hard to thrive and grow in my job. The environment in the SALT department is very much "sink or swim." They put so much pressure on you do just get work done, whether you know what the heck you are doing or not, that I don’t understand how they expect someone to grow intellectually in such an environment.
After several months in the job upper management began trying to force me to quit. One of the partners would literally walk around the department asking everyone to lunch except me. All the managers and partners in the department worked very hard to get me to quit. I was repeatedly excluded from things, treated disrespectfully, and even questioned about whether or not I worked the hours I claimed I had worked. My own baby shower was cancelled because I was denied a request to take one day off to travel to the destination. The day I requested off ended up being a very slow day with little to nothing to do. My manager just wanted to prove a point. I do believe this was all intentional as they weren’t happy with me not disclosing my pregnancy during my interview nor did they want me working there once I had my baby because they knew a baby would be a distraction from work. I was early in my first trimester when I interviewed for the job so I felt no obligation to disclose anything. And lest Crowe forgot, I was under no legal obligation to disclose anything.
When I was seven months pregnant my manager and HR informed me that my salary would be cut by almost 54% to $28,000 once I returned from maternity leave but was still expected to work at least 40 hours per week. They later came back and offered $32k instead (wow, very generous of them). They both also insisted that I take a 13 week maternity leave when I only wanted to take six weeks. I guess they thought I wasn’t aware of the fact that they were not legally required to keep my job open to me after 12 weeks. It was just another way to try getting rid of me. I questioned the HR representative if my salary cut was due to not disclosing my pregnancy during my interview, her words were exactly, “Well, it would have been nice if you had told us.” Later in a meeting with this HR rep and a SALT partner I questioned her on what she had said, pressing the matter because I wanted the partner to be aware of what she said, but she adamantly denied it. I recorded every conversation I had with them so I have proof of everything.
In the end, Crowe won. I quit after I had my baby. I could not handle the mistreatment any longer. I could not leave that place in tears one more day. I could not let that place suck the life out of me.
From what I observed the only people that do well at Crowe are those who do everything they are told to do without question (the “Crowe-bots”), those who don’t mind being taken advantage of, and people who believe they have no self-worth. Interns also really enjoy working at Crowe because they are put on a pedestal and treated so wonderfully so they will accept a job offer. If you just look at the people walking the halls, everyone looks miserable at this place. It will suck the life out of you.
Perhaps the experience in other departments at the South Bend office are different, but as for the SALT department, it is horrible.
My message to Crowe: treat your employees with respect. Inspire them. Value them. Put good leaders in leadership positions, not people who are just good at giving orders and intimidating people.
If you are finding yourself in a bad position at Crowe and treated horribly, just remember “your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.”
