Pros
Opportunity – DISH took a chance on me long ago, and I’ll always be grateful. I‘ve been promoted many times and given many opportunities (some above and outside my title!). I learned valuable skills, made a livable-ish wage, and was involved in fun, exciting, and fulfilling projects. I have the career I do because of my time at DISH. Team – Peers, direct managers, directors, and even VPs were excellent. Just about everyone, no matter the level or role, felt very approachable and pleasant to work with. I don’t know how common it is for an individual contributor to meet regularly with SVPs or be able to walk up to a C-level executive and have an informal conversation, but that sort of thing happens here.
Cons
A Scrooge – DISH is an expert in penny-pinching everything, including you. Salary is 20% or more below market standards. Performance-based merit increases are really just COLAs (Cost of Living Adjustments) and top performers barely get enough outpace inflation (by ~1% if you’re “exceeding expectations”). Health benefits are subpar and getting worse. Workspaces are second-hand from when Merrill Lynch owned the building in the 90’s and are literally falling apart. During COVID, Charlie doubled his net worth from $5.4B to $10.7B, and DISH’s quarterly earnings rose over 50%…but he still used the pandemic to rationalize huge layoffs, promotion freezes, and cancelling all earned merit increases company wide. Positions open up but are often never backfilled. Instead, the extra workload is just piled on to the remaining team members without increasing their pay. This is a Fortunate 250 company worth billions folks, and that’s not even the half how distastefully cheap it is. Suspect Culture – DISH uses the veil of culture as a way of enforcing questionable company policies while granting itself immunity from all inquiries, compromises, pleas, and criticisms. And if you try anyway, prepare to be visited by the Thought Police. Also prepare to have your performance appraisal tank now that “The DISH Way” is 25% of your score. There are control issues that stem from the very top and seep down into the rest of the company; an unspoken belief that employees cannot be effective unless there are systems in place to monitor and track everything they do. You’ll also hear “opportunity is our #1 benefit” a lot, but this is just the way they spin the disconcerting attrition issue. Opportunity is their #1 benefit because turnover is their #1 problem, and also because everything else they offer is notably below market.
