Pros
The work relationships I built up over my time with AHS, and the trust my colleagues had in me to get the job done well and right.
Cons
I’ve struggled with whether to write this as I know it’s likely to be critiqued during a future company-wide meeting. I’m confident my experience and this review will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes with upper management and I’ll be regarded as another disgruntled employee whose viewpoints are askew if not dead wrong. There are some serious problems and AHS is blatantly concerned only with the bottom line. While that of course should be the focus of any business, it should not be at the expense of your employee health. There is no sense of safety to express honest opinions and feelings without the fear of retaliation, and those who do express anything are paid lip service and placated just enough to encourage them to keep working under the promise it will eventually get better. Eventually is elusive. The Chambersburg office itself hasn’t grown in in-house on-site employee number in years. Onsite IT is almost non-existent, with most issues being sent to Salem or Lombard to diagnose and solve instead of the core problem within the Chambersburg office IT department being addressed properly. Unless you need something like a computer rebuild or something hands on, you have to call elsewhere. Workload is sent to the AHS Bangalore office in India as much as possible despite the amount of mistakes the work comes back with - leaving in house to clean up the mess. There is no onsite HR. Management tends to be a frustrating toxin to employee morale. Management typically does not train their employees, or know much about the departments they oversee. I’ve had management ask me questions about why some procedures exist when they themselves put them into place, which did not leave me feeling confident in their leadership capabilities. I’d been told numerous times the excuse of, “We’re working managers, we don’t have the time....” and this leaves employees to rely mainly on each other and think outside the box for solutions. Many times I witnessed fellow staff rolling their eyes and scoffing at their manager’s lack of knowledge, and it became a running joke. Management likes to placate by saying , “it’s like this everywhere, this is the wave of the future.” Newsflash - no it isn’t. Not everywhere. And even if it were true, it doesn’t make it right. During my stay, I’ve witnessed so many good people come and go and those people who have gone have been happier for it. I myself was increasingly miserable due to Advantedge’s pressure cooker mentality, double standards, and high turnover rate. I tried for many years to grow beyond my station and was flat denied despite all attempts. It was inferred at one point that I was far too valuable where I was to let go to another department. I was good at my job and I enjoyed it. But the negative over time far outweighed the positive. Raises were terrible. Bonuses were an often unattainable and elusive goal. Favoritism is very real. Passive aggressive emails about staff “talking too much” when management can go to fellow management and/or their employees and talk at great length about things not related to work - this is grossly unfair. The office does try to keep morale up with food days and summer hours. But I feel that unless these problems are seriously looked at, it’ll always be like putting a bandaid on a war wound. To anyone looking to accept a job offer from AdvantEdge, I’d recommend accepting ONLY IF you’re desperate for income. You won’t get anywhere if you’re looking for anything else - especially in the Chambersburg office.
