TRUST. Management is not trustworthy. The head of USIS told associates in a company meeting last year that their reward for keeping the company strong through the downturn was that there would be growth and opportunities within the company. Every quarter staff are told in company meetings how TU's success is due to them. They are now off-shoring jobs, and only management are offered bonuses.
TECHNOLOGY. The technology is a mix between old garbage, and new but mediocre garbage. You can easily end up getting consumed learning technologies that have been discontinued.
DIVISION OF LABOR. Jobs are so divided, that you perform only a tiny segment of the overall solution, and there are no opportunities to demonstrate your ability in other areas. If you have a good idea, but no one in the Architecture group likes it, the idea is dead on arrival - it goes nowhere.
SILOS. It was bad when I first got there, but the new CIO and VP of Tech Ops had their reorg last year and made it even worse. The fiefdoms are rampant, and if you don't belong to a particular group, don't expect much assistance from them.
FINANCE. This company is in trouble. The stock price was inflated for a sale last year. Now, I can only expect the new owners are looking at their purchase asking how they are going to make their ROI. The answer? Cut staff, implement less resilient technology, move jobs to India, etc.
BIG BROTHER. Info Security has all the power, but not enough staff to implement their great ideas. So, security tends to be a jumbled mess. More attention is paid to watching what the associates are doing than to protecting the gates from outside threats.
LEADERSHIP. The organization is (not unlike most American business) lead predominantly by managers, not leaders. Don't expect to be challenged to excel, expect to be managed so as not to make waves. Promote mediocrity, and you're fine; advocate pushing the envelop, and you will be sidelined (not necessarily reprimanded, or ostracized, but just pushed off to the side).
CULTURE. This is the big problem at TU. C-levels are planning the big exodus of jobs, and everybody knows it. Associates are told they are valuable, but not treated like it. The result is a lot of throwing each other under the bus, rather than honest attempts at making the environment a better place. There is a dismal cloud hanging over the building, and if you ask anyone what they are hopeful for, it's not a change, but a new job someplace else.
