Until recently, I would not have had many cons to list. Once we became a for-profit company a few years ago, the whole "vibe" changed:
- If you’re 100% client-facing like me, you don’t often have the ability to attend the LMI all-hands or spotlight meetings or communities of practice. Therefore, you’re somewhat disconnected from LMI, consulting world culture, and LMI leadership. This also affects your performance rating and subsequent pay increase; if you do great work but they don’t know who you are (because your manager who decides on your raise oversees hundreds of people), you won’t get that top rating.
- Salary increases are a continual letdown. Last year we got word the company made record profits, yet many people I talk to who were rated “highly valued” on their performance review only received 3-4% increase. With inflation at current levels, this means that staying at LMI is often a “pay cut” compared to taking a job somewhere else, where you could begin at a higher salary. It’s a little disheartening to hear in town hall meetings, every year for the past 5 years, that we’ve exceeded our profit goals but that money isn’t trickling down into employee pay.
- Bonuses don’t seem worth it for non-management employees. While I've worked here we were renewed for a $604 million contract with USBP – the largest award in LMI’s 60-year history – and us "normal" employees only received a $1000 bonus for 5 years of work that resulted in winning this. (I have no idea what kind of bonus was given to management staff or executive staff, but I'm betting it was more than a grand.)
- LMI does have a spot bonus program, but you won’t get one if your management doesn’t pass along the commendation from the client. I’ve had clients ask me the process to recommend me for an award fee, and there isn’t a way for the client to directly tell your LMI bosses you deserve one; memos and recommendations have to be emailed to the contract's LMI liaison, and you have to hope they pass that up the chain.
- Promotions are seem dependent upon increased managerial duties. Supposedly a few years ago they rearranged the promotion tracks so there’s a “technical skills-based” promotion track that eschews the traditional “you have to increase your management capabilities to get promoted” attitude. But I have yet to see long-term employees get promoted if they “merely” are excellent at their jobs, if they provide technical services; it still seems like you have to take over more management-type tasks before you’re promoted.
- Availability of remote work. LMI used to promote and push the client to allow remote work. However, the new Administration's "Return to Work" orders has negated this for some positions - I was fully remote for 6 years; now I go in to the client site 1 day a week and some have to go in 3-4 days a week. And at the recent All Hands meeting, the VP said that she's now encouraging us to be in-person as much as possible.
- We got a new CEO in October, and it seems like there's a much larger focus on profit rather than people. I get this is a business, but several the benefits we received when I started here have been slashed. We went from actual unlimited leave to now we’re not supposed to get less than an "86.8% utilization rate" in LMI's leave tracking dashboard. They also changed how they do bonuses, as I noted.
