I can't speak for the rest of Brady but the division based in Chicago is suffering from poor business strategy that is way above most employees' pay grades. The steps management has taken to remedy it include strategic refocus, change at the top and rounds of layoffs. What's left is a skeleton crew compared to where they were a year ago. As motivated as the rank-and-file is to do what they can, there is a palpable sense of dread and hopelessness that makes the office feel more like a wake than a productive place of business.
Turnover is embarrassing, as employees leave in droves while those who remain have one foot out the door mentally. And who can blame them? There is nothing about how the company does business that inspires confidence in their jobs.
But perhaps the most demoralizing development is the officewide tendency for those in management to micromanage. Refusal to trust direct reports, obsessive hours-watching, undermining good work. These are just a few of the ways managers treat professionals like children. The only thing employees learn anymore is how their colleagues deal with stress--and it's never good.
And to add insult to injury, the compensation is not competitive with the job market in its location. It never was, but now that employees are expected to carry the burden of those who have left of been laid off, the compensation standards are almost insulting. At this point, a position here can only be attractive to those at the very beginning or very end of their careers. Nobody with any hopes of stability should give it to a company that can't expect to give it back.
