So many...
1. Management- management goes beyond not caring about their employees and ventures into being adversarial with them. Management does not care to hear complaints or dissension either publicly or privately, even when supported by data. Presentations and private conversations with many employees have stressed feigning positivity and towing the company line instead of addressing real problems. Employees are told positivity is state of mind, not a result of policy. Employees and even lower level management are routinely sacrificed or crucified for failings that come from above such as a lack of leadership, direction, support, funding.
2. Communication - Employees are often left in the dark about major changes that impact their jobs, and expert opinions and industry standards are often disregarded. Everything has to be in writing to protect one's self as dishonesty is rampant and disharmony between departments is caused friction. Management is often more interested in assigning blame than solving problems. In addition there is no common lexicon and very little in the way of training for employees in most groups. This means speaking to team members in other departments about a project can be near impossible, especially as many employees and underqualified or overworked in their positons. Communication with management is often either empty platitudes or vague direction. Process either don't exist or are discarded at a whim for the urgent fire of them moment or simply because someone cannot be bothered with compliance. It often feels as if Helm is at war with itself internally.
3. Career Growth - none, unless you start in the call center. Often times negative growth due to the fact that Helm refuses to adapt modern technology, processes, or standards. Employees become locked into skills that are outdated or obsolete and dissuade perspective employers from taking them seriously. Helm is not interested in building equity in their current employees and is more interested in outsourcing to cheaper labor centers or forcing employees to tackle problems they are not qualified for. Training and skill growth opportunities are not provided in nearly all cases and are underserved when they are.
4. Technology - laughable, outdated, undersupported, and outsourced. Helm is a company that cannot or will not invest in their technology, even though they claim it to be a core part of their offering. Technology projects always cut nearly every corner, especially when outsourced. Many key pieces of technology in use still date from before the turn of the century.
5. Work environment - while most employees are friendly the environment itself is not. Project management is terrible or non-existent, management commits to impossible deadlines without understanding deliverables, and work-life balance is a non existent notion. Expect to work under the gun, rushed, unsupported, and unsure of deliverables and expect to do it on nights, weekends, holidays, and even pto without any compensation, flex time, or work from home. All this with the added pressure of being told this is the big one, a make or break project for the company, and the companies future depends on you in this moment. You are expected to be all-in for Helm, but Helm is not all-in for you.
6. Integrity - The company, its management, and practices are morally dubious at best. The company skirts a dangerous line with dishonesty. Employees are often asked to go right to the edge of dishonesty by providing carefully worded misleading narratives, holding key information, and providing the most thinly veiled or minimum levels of compliance with clients.
I could continue...but if none of that has had an impact on you then Helm is probably a great fit. But don't be fooled when they say dawn is just over the next horizon...
