Milliken – “Lots of change for the better”

Pros

Good management and excellent work environment. The senior leadership, while not always completely clued-in, is very open-minded and intelligent. The company also has a commitment to things that are important to me, including personal development, ethical business practices, and environmental issues. I've been particularly impressed at how willing management is to spend money on developing employees' skills. While I usually have to ask for feedback, which seems to just be an issue with my boss, when I do, the feedback is clear and helpful. This clarity and helpfulness seems to be more common than not. The company is also pretty flexible with folks needing to have a little time for personal reasons, which is really nice. As long as you meet your goals, people don't check your cubicle at 8:00 to make sure you're there. Another great thing about working here is that the company has a bias towards promoting from within, so there are a lot of opportunities available.

Cons

The company has a bad attitude about secrecy and lack of transparency in decision making. A lot of things are found out by rumor, which adversely affects morale. This could be improved a great deal. The new CEO, Joe Salley, has tried to address this, but his streaming videos simply fall flat and in some cases, his attempts to be more open may have done more harm than good. As he has transitioned from COO into the role of CEO, he has definitely gotten better at communication, so I'm hopeful about the long term. The other most frustrating thing about working here are the middle managers. While the Senior leadership team is is great, they have an unfortunate tendency towards micromanagement, which has gotten 100% better since I started here. The middle tiers of management have not improved as much in this regard and in many cases, they lack vision as well. This can be an opportunity as well as a downside, though.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more open. Give more authority with delegated responsibility.