STV West Coast - Needs Improvement
Pros
Nice office, conveniently located near freeway and with nice amenities. Friendly and cooperative colleagues. Understanding and somewhat supportive local management. Interesting projects, when they are available according to your line of expertise.
Cons
Unfriendly, uncaring and unsupportive upper management, especially the one in charge of the West Coast operations. West Coast upper management looks at the employees as opportunities for making money and for looking good with central upper management in New York, if you fail the main goal of making money, either because there is no suitable work to exercise your expertise, or because you want to do your job well, needing time for research or going deeper into the matter, if it needs so, you are looked at expendable and it may be a matter of days for your lay-off. Even if you work your butt off and show total dedication to the Company, there is absolutely no allegiance from management... The employees that seem to attract some recognition are the ones that are willing to sacrifice quality for the sake of meeting deadlines (most of the times quite irrealistic) even if at the cost of "cutting some corners" and/or making unwarranted simplifications... Making a career or getting salary improvement may prove to be quite difficult since competency or dedication do not play a role, but rather seniority (maybe after the 15 years with the Firm) or sponsorship by a relevant senior partner; average salary increases are only 1% to 3% a year, below inflation, or about 4% to 5% if you really made an effort and dedication and your supervisor took some interest in it. When you leave, getting your 401 K and ESOP funds back may prove to be quite an exercise and takes over 1 year to get all of it back to your bank account...
