Low Pay, Bad Upper Management, But Good Work Life Balance
Pros
Good work life balance for most groups, although some don’t have this. However, expect your work life balance to suffer the closer you get to senior leadership. Remote and hybrid work is common. Great group of coworkers. People are generally sharp and willing to help others. Bike discounts, nice trails, a very nice facility, fun events, and good discounted food at the on-site cafeteria. Benefits are pretty good, with many employees getting bonuses and contributions to a stock ownership plan when times are good.
Cons
Really low pay that does not pace with inflation. Raises are not given annually. The longer you stay here, the further it feels that you fall behind. HR is not great to work with, and the company is just big enough that key contributors who should be rewarded are not visible to senior leadership and HR. Because of this, requests for raises are denied and many high performers have been leaving the company. There is a technical career path in name only, since the pay range at the top of the technical path is low relative to management. Performance reviews seem randomly timed if given at all, and the outcome of the review is not tied to a salary increase at all. You can receive top reviews every year for many years without an increase. John Burke has surrounded himself with yes men and speaks exclusively in platitudes. His leadership doesn’t inspire confidence and leadership has made many mistakes in the past years. Employees are told to work hard without raises and that their efforts will eventually be recognized, but this has not proven to be true. Managers spend too much of their time changing their goals and tracking metrics to reflect whatever self-help book has been chosen by John Burke with which to frame every problem the company faces for that year.
