If you listen to the messages from recruiters, you'll hear about a culture that is family oriented, puts their people first and allows work/life balance. It sounds great as a sales pitch to get you in the door but it's not reality.
-Compensation - incentives wrong most of the time. Be prepared to fight for what is owed to you. Often this can take several months to clean up.
-Inconsistent internal communication; a feeling of secrecy between leadership and staff.
-No policies - everything is subjective and can change by leader. Do your best to guess at what is expected. .
-Department silos create chaos and duplication of effort
-The comment on old boys club is true, but it is more like a high school popularity contest. You are either with the "in" crowd or not. Decisions tend to favor the "in' crowd.
-Gossip/water cooler talk seems to consume a lot of peoples time.