The parent company, Schurz Communications, has taken control of major decisions despite having little understanding of the cloud industry. Their approach treats a cloud services business as if it were a traditional broadband operation, and many choices appear to be driven by buzzwords and presentations rather than actual technical or operational realities. Morale has dropped rapidly, and many long-tenured employees and senior engineers are already looking for roles elsewhere. The message across departments is to “do more with less,” even as headcount is reduced and workload increases.
The return-to-office policy was implemented with almost no notice, disrupting employees’ lives, while the company continues paying for multiple office spaces in Michigan and now two separate offices in Denver. Even when employees comply and work onsite, most of their coworkers are still in other states or countries, so the workday happens on video calls anyway. There is also concern that leadership will restrict future hiring to only Michigan, Indianapolis, or Denver, which would significantly shrink the talent pool and make it harder to attract qualified cloud professionals.
There is a widening disconnect between those making decisions and those who understand the technology and the customers. Clients still receive strong support from the technical staff, but they are unaware of how leadership decisions are weakening the organization behind the scenes.
Diversity and advancement are also major issues. Leadership is dominated by a closed inner circle, and advancement often appears to depend more on personal relationships than performance or qualifications. Promotions and commitments are frequently promised but not delivered, unless someone is already part of the existing leadership network. The perception among employees is that knowing or being personally connected to executives matters more than merit.
