The double standards for certain high revenue-producing/lead-generating employees is so obvious it’s almost comical, with rampant, uncontrolled favoritism and cronyism to boot. I myself was a victim of favoritism, in which not one, but TWO people who promised to help me advance my career at Zebra backstabbed me instead, preventing me from getting an opportunity that a less qualified, yet “favored” (i.e. a friend of the hiring manager) employee also wanted. When I confronted the lead saboteur about her actions her answer was along the lines of (dead serious): “I had to do it! It seemed like no one wanted you to get that promotion anyway!” AKA: a confession. But when I reported her act of sabotage to a department leader seeking advice, the only response I got was a casual, dismissive: “She’s still a good person.” No consequences for that act whatsoever; in fact they literally promoted the saboteur shortly afterwards. If that’s not favoritism, then I don’t know what is. And isn’t that the sort of behavior that invites lawsuits…?
I have since been diagnosed with and am now being treated for post traumatic stress disorder as a result of that act of sabotage. That’s what working in Zebra’s Marketing department got me — a clinical diagnosis of PTSD, thanks to out-of-control favoritism and a weak, corrupt mentor who turned out to be under the management’s thumb. Be careful who in the Herd you trust, folks!!
Zebra’s career development structure is also the epitome of “rigged.” Very few advancement opportunities from the lower ranks, and, not kidding, team leaders are quite literally instructed not to let their direct reports think that they’ve earned promotions, by holding back on “Exceeds Expectations” for performance reviews. How can an organization claim it is devoted to its employees’ advancement when it has a policy like that?! In other words, no matter how hard you work, 99% of the time you’re still just a specialist in the eyes of leadership. There are also very few opportunities for external development (for example, attending professional conferences). I’ve worked at companies making less than 1% of Zebra’s revenue that provided more development opportunities for its employees.
There’s also the element of finances dragging down morale. Zebra’s debt load (a subject the CEO and CFO conveniently skated over on the most recent earnings call) currently amounts to nearly HALF its annual revenue (not profits… revenue), at a time when neither its revenue, profits, nor cash on hand are especially comforting. Slashing spend over the past year or so has done little to stem the bleeding. At least some blame for the heavy debt goes to many years of Marketing paying overpriced external agencies literally millions of dollars per year to do work that in-house talent is perfectly capable of at a fraction of the cost (try justifying over $25,000 and four weeks for 2 simple ebooks that an in-house writer and graphic designer duo could whip up in a couple days!). To be fair, that appears to be changing, given the amount of work being outsourced to Europe and India, but that’s happening at the expense of employee morale. Many are terrified out of their minds that their jobs will be eliminated, given the combination of extensive foreign/agency outsourcing, layoffs, budget cuts, bleak finances, sliding customer retention rates, an unsettling over-reliance on a scant handful of huge contracts, activating the Voluntary Retirement Plan and buyouts, obvious favoritism, and a general exodus of great employees from Zebra. AND I might also add that the recent “awards” bestowed upon the team by an organization that no one’s ever heard of are doing little to help…
