Pros
When I joined Leica Microsystems it was my first time in a large corporate organization, I had previously worked for smaller companies. So this was quite a big change for me, but overall it has been a positive experience. There is no organization without its internal politics, but generally speaking this is a very friendly environment with a pleasant culture. Here are some of the positives I have seen so far: There is no micromanagement, people are trusted to do their jobs and manage their own time and tasks appropriately, which I really appreciate. Co-workers are nice and easy to get on with. On the whole there is a positive attitude towards teamwork and getting good results. If you have a good idea to bring about a positive change in the way that things are done, this is usually welcomed and you have the freedom to take it forward. There are plenty of opportunities to grow within the company; you can take on special projects and plan out steps to develop your career I feel I have an exciting and interesting job that I love doing every day!
Cons
There are a few negative points that I would list here as follows: Meeting overload - I think many organizations struggle with this, but Leica Microsystems is no exception. There are so many meetings to align and discuss, but we don't take into consideration that people do need time to actually do the work. Attitude to remote work - after the pandemic, it seems there is a strong push to get people back in the office. However, the world has changed since COVID, and many people prefer to work remotely unless they need to go into the office for something that requires face-to-face collaboration. Even though people are going back, most meetings are held virtually anyway, because we work with people in many different sites across the world. A culture of long hours & overwork - there is a prevailing culture of people sending emails in the evenings and on weekends, and there are a lot of meetings scheduled long after working hours as well. Terrible IT support - my onboarding experience was terrible because of a lack of decent IT support. Tickets go ignored and unanswered for months, requisitions for office equipment/software often get stuck in approval loops that go round and round in circles. There seems to be no accountability for this. Overall just not a good experience.