Some background: MetLife is building their Technology hub in the RTP area so they are shutting down offices across the US, especially in the NJ and NY areas. Their plan is to hire 1500 people by 2015 to replace the people thet are being let go. They claim that they are building the site in RTP so they can change the culture and have fresh perspective but I really think this was all about saving money. Although the leadership keeps on talking about changing the organization their actions show the opposite. They are doing massive hiring without having a plan in place for knowledge transfer and ownership transfer.
Most of the people at MetLife have been there for decades so MetLife is their only career (or their longest career), therefore the only way they know is the Metlife way and they are not about to change anything. In addition, they are not happy to train the people that are taking over their job or transition ownership over to them. So the new people that come on board get no support for coming up to speed, owning work or even trying to improve things. They basically have no say, no authority and no ownership. Even people in leadership positions are being overridden by their management in the other sites.
Many people were hired for a certain role and then were given different responsibilities which are way below their skill level. For example, senior project leads are being requested to update spreadsheets. I personally know MANY people in this situation. So not only you are not being challenged, but you are regressing.
The moral is VERY low. The attrition rate is high. I know a few people that quit after a couple of months and I know many people who are unhappy and regret joining MetLife.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked in a place where there were so many unhappy people. What MetLife don’t realize is that this is not NY or NJ. The RTP area is a small place and it’s only a matter of time until MetLife will get bad reputation.
So here is my advice to you, if you are unemployed or really hate your current job then maybe you should consider MetLife. If you are happy or even OK with where you are, stay away from here. My 2 cents – take it or leave it.
