Pros
Flexibility - most managers will allow you to take time off, no problem, for doctors appointments, etc. After 5 years, you get 3 weeks vacation. After 10 years you get 4 weeks vacation. Loose lips. There is so much gossip that nothing is secret, so you will hear but not directly. Blackstone is cutting some of the dead weight. Since December, they have cut people who needed to go. All employees are on a first-name basis regardless of position. Loose Business Casual. Jeans on Friday.
Cons
Only 6 sick days and you can't accrue them. Come on, you get sick one good time, and they're gone! TOP HEAVY! We have managers and directors with no direct reports. Promotions are based on friendship, favors and politics in general. We have a Nepotism problem. Most of the directors have worked together "In the Holiday Inn Days", then Promus and now Hilton. So, there is a small group of Directors which protects its members even though some are incompetent. IT is in chaos! We have contractors running projects - there's no ownership. H1B visa holders abound. HR is a joke, concerned with preventing lawsuits, not serving employees. Hiring process caters toward external candidates. Now, the "system" weeds out employees if they don't meet all the basic requirements. So, having the business knowledge and the willingness to learn isn't enough anymore. It's impossible to move between groups now - you have to have had experience in that job before even being interviewed. Leads and above receive annual bonuses based on meeting deadlines, not quality. The people doing the work are underpaid and underappreciated. Employees are torn. They care for other employees and their products, but feel angry. Contractors are LOVING IT! The contractor funding is "from a different bucket" so it's much higher and less controlled than employee pay. Abuse of travel budgets by some favored employees. IT Training for favored employees while others get none even though our CIO assures us that there is money budgeted for every employee for training..... Each department "manages to 3%" merit increase each year. Merit has nothing to do with it. Most people get 3%. Evaluations are done in December but managers submit their employees' percentages in October....
