Pros
When I first started working at Alaska almost five years ago, I would have said that the people were one of the company’s greatest strengths. Many employees had been with Alaska for decades — some longer than I have been alive — and their loyalty, pride, and belief in the company were deeply evident. Overall, I had a very positive experience with many of the people I worked with, and there were countless colleagues I genuinely enjoyed collaborating with. Sadly, many of those same people — the ones who would have been Alaska’s strongest advocates and culture carriers — were pushed out, especially within the People Team. That shift says a lot. When a company loses the very people who helped make its culture meaningful, it cannot pretend nothing has changed.
Cons
When it comes to the cons, I will be honest: the People Team has become one of Alaska’s biggest barriers. I am surprised senior leadership does not appear to fully recognize how toxic parts of the People Team culture have become, or how many leaders in that space need to be replaced. I made the decision to leave when it became clear that there would be little to no accountability for problematic leadership. I also saw ongoing issues with favoritism, nepotism, bias, high turnover among people of color, and very limited advancement of people of color into leadership roles. I was with the company for almost five years and was never able to secure a promotion, despite my experience, performance, and contributions. Over time, it became clear that the goalposts kept moving. Eventually, I realized that too many leaders on the People Team hired and promoted based on personal preference, proximity, and favoritism — not necessarily skill, qualifications, or impact. Because of that, I knew it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Alaska also falls short compared to other corporations when it comes to competitive pay, which only reinforced that leaving was the right decision.