The company is a free-for-all. Chartis has a reputation for it in the industry. Many departments don't have formal training programs, and many employees don't have clear job descriptions or authority guidelines. This is true at all levels, so that managers end up knowing just as little as their employees. Some of the systems are very old and cumbersome. There is a ton of management, but most don't actually have the authority or power to push for real change.
In the past year, there have been many changes in the company. Many of them, in my opinion, have been poorly implemented. The fact is, the company isn't profitable, and it probably won't be so for a long time. Promotions (or any job opening for that matter) are rare and far between, and everyone is constantly stressed about layoffs. The new global job grading system tries to bring the company into the modern world, but it still lags behind competitors like Zurich and State Farm that have levels within each level, making authority and responsibility much clearer. Seriously, most job grades have salaries that range for over $100K from min to max. That is not a modern job grading system. The new performance review system is also flawed. How do you expect pools of 40 or more managers to come to any meaningful agreement on the performance of their employees. It means that employee performance gets judged on the persuasion skills of your manager.
