Analysis: negative overall experience and there are better places to work - Recensione dipendente - Dipendente anonimo presso Compugen

In no specific order, below are the key negative characteristics that were experienced while working for the company: 1) Firstly, do not view working at this company as a viable long term career option. One cannot really make a "career" at this company as there is no real upward mobility or growth opportunities (at least, not for contractor or freelancers). If anything, there would be more "sideways" movement, than upward movement. 2) Team managers will suggest the possibilities that working well could eventually lead to full-time roles being created and offered down the road, but do not believe any of these incentive tactics. The reality is that the company only seeks to keep as few permanent salaried employees on staff as possible. They prefer to rotate through contractors in more of a revolving door strategy. 3) Pay rate is well below market value, and is not really competitive with working somewhere else to do the same amount of work. More on this below. 4) It is also quietly known among some that the company keeps for itself a larger portion of the true hourly rate they actually charge their clients for a contractor's time, so one should be concerned about being paid a much smaller piece of the hourly pie. The company's portion of what they keep could be anywhere from 50%-75% of the real hourly rate charged to a client for a contractor's time. This is partly why it is a company policy that contractors not discuss or disclose their pay rates with their fellow colleagues. 5) Sick days for contractors are entirely unpaid, there are no paid benefits, and work contract lengths can be terminated early at any time. Autonomy is also very limited as are the flexibility of working hours and even previously scheduled overtime hours can sometimes be taken away on very short notice. Assigned client sites can also be changed with very little advance notice depending on who they are looking to move or terminate at another client site. Vacation requests can also sometimes be denied due to lack of available staff to back-fill. These all negatively affect the overall work-life balance dynamic and having any real sense of certainty or job security. 6) There is some form of HR/performance review process in place for permanent employees, but this experience was that there isn't one in place for contractors. The reality is that the company does not want to give raises to contractors in the form of increased hourly pay and seeks to avoid this practice. There also appears to be a lot of dis-coordination between the Toronto-based head office and the branch offices in other provinces and it was found that internal HR processes are quite slow. 7) There is an ongoing syndrome of corporate politics and the company seems to hold on to some long-term tenured employees well past when they should (ostensibly because they don't want to pay out larger severances). These people usually receive preferential treatment and some of them seem to have less-than-stellar, or downright miserable, personalities. Some are, indeed, "lifers", who perhaps couldn't work anywhere else. While most work colleagues encountered were very nice, decent people, this syndrome also contributes to a culture of entrenchment, stagnation, a toxic work environment and lack of innovative ideas being possible within the company. 8) The company executive regularly sends out mass emails reporting ever higher sales revenue achievements and the winning of new, lucrative client contracts with upscale clients. However, all these proudly announced accolades do not appear to translate over to increases in hourly pay or the sharing of these profits with the company's staff and fleet of contractors. Conclusion: It is a reasonable assertion to suggest that this company has considerable flaws and ethical gaps. The fundamental reality is that there are far better companies to work for and build a career at, which would also offer far more opportunities for security and career growth. Enter at own risk.