The fear of layoffs was always there, but in this economy where are you going to find a job without that fera?
One downside I saw was the seemingly non-cooperative spirit between some departments. The "service" departments were given directives but the support from upper manangement to enforce the directives wasn't as strong as it could have been. It would feel as if you were the "bad cop" doing the bidding for upper management and when the department you were supporting didn't like the directive and would push back and "throw their weight around", upper management would "give in" resulting in those trying to enforce the directive have less creditability with their client.