The 2018 "Most Improved Award" goes to.... *drum roll*
Pros
I just removed my magnum opus review from 2015 giving the then-management/Surescripts a 2/5 stars. I went on ad nauseam about everything from asinine corporate culture training, hypocritical HR reward initiatives, wasteful spending and lazy project management/decision making. Three years have passed since that review - and while I can safely say that not *all* of my concerns have been addressed, 2018-era Surescripts is a very different beast. * Compensation remains competitive - benefits are good-to-great. * HR and management actually seek corporate opinion before rolling things out or making sweeping changes. We feel engaged and listened to. * The re-organization (cleaning house) from a few years back made a huge improvement. We have fewer (and mostly better) people making decisions. We're no longer finding ourselves in managerial deadlocks. * New corporate values are succinct and appropriate. Because of this - "driving them home" feels natural and encouraging. * Individual, team, and corporate goals are finally getting aligned. This makes things easier to get done - and stresses the importance of forecasting and anticipating work, rather than dropping projects on people mid-year unexpectedly.
Cons
The largest (and arguably one of the only) things I feel is hurting our organization are a few apathetic managers. [Note - these folks are the minority. You could honestly count them on one hand. However - they're in pivotal roles, and far reaching effects on other teams] I feel like there are still some decision-makers who don't really have their heart in their work. This manifests into a variety of different things: * Manager indifference. When you fail to have an opinion of your own, that you're willing to defend, people aren't confident in moving forward. We need passionate and opinionated leaders (with some humility) who can inspire confidence and excitement in their team. * Laziness. When you become apathetic to your work, you don't really care about finding the "right" solution - as much as you often care about finding the most convenient one. We've made many decisions (arguably bad ones) which can be traced back to a single leader failing to leave their comfort zone and consider taking on more work to "do it correctly the first time." * Defensiveness. There's more than a few folks who are hyper-protective of their teams and departments. They'll try to direct blame to other teams or departments if and when mistakes are discovered. There are also teams that want to maintain complete control and whose management does not foster cross-department cooperation. This "dog-eat-dog" style means that other departments cannot get reasonable requests made in good faith completed in a timely manner. **The only other thing** I'd say is a con would be the silly anniversary and birthday cards you (HR) send out. A single signature on a generic card that doesn't even have my name is the most hilariously impersonal greeting card I've ever received. Honestly - you'd be better off not sending them at all. They used to rub me the wrong way, though now I just chuckle.