Pros
The company used to abide by the guidelines of ACTT=R (Accountability, Challenge, Transparency & Teamwork = Results). I know in some areas, the business end was very competitive, but amongst the middle managers, my peers had the lowest amount of ego of anywhere I worked. People looked out for each other; asking "dumb" questions was okay, and people genuinely wanted each other to succeed. As a manager, I was trusted to do my job and was supported when I needed direction or assistance. Much unlike previous companies where I worked, there was never a feeling of back-stabbing or political motivation. While no company is perfect, I looked forward to my job and the people I worked with.
Cons
I left the company and returned when I was offered a new, more senior position. I was very excited to return to the company as I had very fond memories of it and was eager to start with them again. I was warned by some of my fellow managers that the company had changed while I was away, and not for the better. I assumed they had grown bitter over time and as someone who appreciated the close-knit nature of the company (even more after where I worked in between) I would go right back to the same situation. However, that was not the case. I was a little surprised to not see ACTT=R referenced in any of the onboarding material, and as I worked for the company, I came to realize the culture had dramatically shifted to a very stovepiped, negative, and politically-driven company. No longer was there a lack of ego and helpfulness between groups; in fact, a lack of communication and stonewalling were frequently encountered. It seemed many people were suspicious of the motivations of others and kept knowledge-sharing tight within their own circles. Further, it seemed that the pandemic and reliance on remote work reconstructed their work schedules to where continual work was expected: one very senior-level employee bragged about how he missed working on Sunday and was still catching up on his missed work, midway through the week. Finally, they had a very bad habit of bringing people from overseas to work in positions where they could easily fill with people from the US. I'm not saying that people from overseas are bad by any means; I enjoyed the global working partnership. However, the people being recruited from overseas were all part of the same "group" and as such, previously worked with others (oftentimes, many others). And notably, it was a one-way road: the people came from overseas to the US; I only knew one person who went from the US to work overseas. Couple that with a language barrier, it further exacerbated the stovepiping and lack of information and knowledge sharing.
