Pros
- Remote work all week. - Finance managemet was less than competent, so a lot of things could've been swept under the rug without them noticing it, just were not smart enough to ask the right questions and dig into details. That was true accross the whole system. - Flexible. I could start my workday later or earlier and leave to a doctor's appointment no problem. - Always supportive and understanding of familly emergencies and things of that nature.
Cons
- Way too many Directors and Sr. Directors. No other company has so many. Extremely "top heavy". Why have Directors of FP&A and Directors of Accounting responsible for the same entities, why not have one Director responsible for both Accounting and FP&A? It is beyond absurd. - Because there are so many various Directors, instead of advocating for their rank and file employees, making sure they grow within the company, they try to take credit for the work of their accountants and analysts to justify their existense. I literally were in the meetings with 5 or 6 people having the word "director" in their title discussing basic accounting things they could not understand due to their incompetence or complete disengagement from day to day work. - The majority of the directors in accounting/finance were hired from the outside and didn't grow within the company. As a result they know very little about the day to day work, spend 2 or 3 years withh SSM and move on to their next job claiming various achievements on their resumes. So many in the upper managemet are not vested in the success of the company to the fullest extent. Those who stayed with the company for a while, got sick of the constant changes and got disengaged, too. It is a vicious circle. - Constant change of processes. Changes for the sake of changes, not for efficiency, not because it's best practices, just to stir things up and then make full circle in a couple of years and go back to how we were doing things before. Every upgrade to varous computer systems is a downgrade. - No middle management, zero promotions for the rank and file. - It is hard to understand who is responsible for what, responsibilities overlap sometimes. - Compensation is below market. Salary increases don't keep up with inflation. Also, salary increases are not merit based. You work your tail off and get the same increase as somebody who is checked out all the time. - No bonuses, profit sharing, promotions or any incentive to be engaged and productive. - Reflections before meetings... that is a bit too much. It feels coercive sometimes. Various people have various beliefs, that should be taken into account, but SSM loves one size fits all approach. - Need to take PTO for federal holidays. That was beyond absurd, too.
