There is a trend throughout most of the project teams to hoard work/tasks, but remain completely unwilling to finish them (even if someone more qualified has the capacity to help out). Unlike most consultancies I have worked with, the responsibility to remain billable lies solely on the individual with no help from project management; this has created a vicious, insecure staff who exercise territoriality as a means to appear busy on their timesheet. The company as a whole seems to follow a bizarre trend of avoiding change with regard to processes/procedures that results in archaic, outdated work methods that tend to appease one individual's incompetence, even if it means hindering the rest of the team. However, the Vancouver office in particular has a deep-rooted issue with morale; the general distaste of the company, it's Branch Stewards and other company leadership became very apparent in my first month, and despite my efforts to remain open, kind, and optimistic, the inevitable prevailed. Finding myself perplexed by the viciousness and acute insecurity in the people I was working with, along with the overall misery that existed within the organization, I grew extremely uncomfortable with working in the office amongst certain individuals. I then began exercising Urban's "flexible" remote-work options for the majority of the week. Rather than expressing concern for the toxicity I was attempting to avoid, I was instead told my employment was at risk if I continued exercising this policy for that reason. While glorified Administrative Assistants run rampant playing HR (the company does not have an established Human Resources department), a culture of gossip, relentless bullying, and concerning unprofessionalism seem to have become a standard for the Vancouver branch. I truly believe Urban Systems is where career advancement and professional growth go to die. My (thankfully) short-lived tenure with the company is something I look very, very forward to forgetting.
