Lack of consideration for culture, which hurts minorities and young professionals
Pros
One of the best paying companies in the area (Boston). Lots of technical opportunities in the technical divisions. There are mid-level leaders who try to mentor and gather organic feedback, most of them female or Gen X and younger, but there needs to be more support and spotlight on those efforts top down. Many of the C-Suite and technical division leaders have great technical experience, and thus have great vision on the technical achievements for STR.
Cons
No parental leave benefit for non-birthing parents. Leadership doesn't invest in culture because a lot of people at STR come from other defense industry companies that have unhealthier environments and/or were former coworkers. Because the top leaders have great technical experience, they lack people management skills, a vision for how to ensure their employees feel like they belong and feel safe, and a mission that stands out from other defense companies. Super fast growth resulted in absence of a consistent management structure throughout the company that serves everyone. Generational differences often result in communication conflicts and barriers between leadership and early career professionals. Technical leadership doesn't respect HR, and thus no DE&I really exists even though they have a DE&I team lead who really does their best to create a more inclusive environment, but doesn't get respect or support. If an employee gets harassed, HR is unable to help them at the first incident or if it's with an external party, because of the lack of agency they have. There is no clear statement in an employee handbook or training of how harassment and inappropriate behavior should be reported, and the power HR should have in those incidences. CEO doesn't put a firm stance in DE&I issues and protecting employees when he should. National tragedies that affect minorities go unspoken or get the slightest mention in all-hands or a polite email. Inappropriate behavior just gets the response of "I'm sorry you felt that way, but we can't do anything." Most of the leaders are white and cis-male, and thus they overlook or even engage in the microaggressions that people of color, gender minorities, and early career people face, especially if the perpetrator is the customer. If you have great technical capability, sometimes leadership takes advantage and overloads your workload, making it hard to enforce work-life boundaries. Leadership of certain divisions do not handle well the financial struggles that come with contracts, and then act surprised when people start leaving.