Esri Reviews

Pros

Good work-life balance in life

Cons

Not much professional growth in career

Advice to Senior Management

Please try to be considerate of employees trying to move up the corpoarte ladder

Pros

Esri has a cult like following with it's users. They are a pleasure to work with. The message that is given to users is an easy one to speak and the users are loyal. There are a lot of really good people who work for the company.

Cons

The people in the regions are the first line to users, and the regional structure is what keeps Esri afloat. Redlands is out of touch with the users. They have put too many policies in place that they don't understand how it impacts the field people. We never see Jack. You can go 10 plus years without the owner coming around. Make a big sale and you don't get a thank you from the national sales manager, let alone Jack. HR has tried to make Esri into a big company, but they just get in the way. The nickle and dime those of us who are on the road all the time. If you go to a conference and lunch is served, you don't get your lunch per diem, even if you worked through lunch. Coffee and donuts at your hotel? No breakfast per diem. And don't even think about traveling to Redlands and expect to have your own hotel room-- you will have a roomate or pay for your hotel room yourself.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management needs to look at what the support staff is doing to the employees. the review process is a joke, and there is nothing consistent. Travel policies are a joke and they make it hard to make needed travel enjoyable at all. Employees are starting to not travel, and Jack, you need us to travel to user sites. ANd how about letting people in regions work from home once in a while. Everyone in Redlands does-- you can't see more than half the employees in the offices at 11 am on a work day in Redlands, but I guarentee you that regional people are at their desk or on site at a customer.

Pros

Once upon a time, Esri was a fun place to work where people enjoyed what they did, people were given the freedom to create cool software, and the managers did their best to keep the BS away from the employees. Over the last several years, that wonderful culture has been destroyed and replaced with one of micromanagement, miserly cost cutting, and a vacuum of leadership.

There are still a few positives to working at Esri. The benefits package is decent with no monthly out-of-pocket for health insurance even for family coverage. The dental, vision, and disability plans all are minimal out-of-pocket for single and family.

Developers, product engineers, and project managers are all given a lot of autonomy and freedom in how they do their work. There's very little process or established practices so you can make it up as you go.

There's very little pressure to perform and it doesn't take much effort to stand out as a good employee. Employees can pretty much work as little or as much as they want and managers will do nothing to you. There are pockets of areas working on cutting-edge technologies who don't have to deal with the decades-old software.

The company also offers a fairly decent profit sharing program of about 5-10% and has a very "stable workforce"--their claim to fame is they've never laid off any staff.

Cons

In the last several years, the culture has changed for the worst. The place has stopped being a fun place to work where everyone feels like they're building an amazing product and turned into a place where people just show up, avoid getting any unwanted attention, and pad their timecard as much as possible.

The benefits package is decent for the Inland Empire, but not very good when compared to other software development companies outside of the area. High co-payments and coinsurance (only 80% coverage), glasses every 2 years, and a measly $1000/yr dental. There are huge gaps in the formulary so expect to pay a lot if you have a lot of prescriptions.

Pay is marginal, but it's hard to compare since there are few high-tech employers in the area. Your job offer assumes you'll work 45-hours, but you aren't always allowed to work more than 40. Many employees, when possible, log way more than 45 hours, but do nothing productive. I guess that's how some people get around the marginal pay. There's little feedback on performance and the raises don't seem to have a lot to do with that feedback.

The company chooses to crack down on silly things like internet usage, phone calls, or how you decorate your office... but refuses to fire unproductive employees who actually create more work for everyone else. In new buildings, there are rules on what you can have on your desk and the color of your stapler and picture frames and employees are harassed if they refuse to comply...

But Developers and Managers who repeatedly fail to meet deadlines get raises every year instead of being fired. this is the downside of "stable workforce".

They've also cut back even on the basics. Supply cabinets aren't resupplied and the free coffee/tea is dwindling. Computers are replaced every 4 years with low-end junk. Memory upgrades or hard drives requires approval from multiple managers and can take months to get, if ever. If it gets denied, you won't even be told. Don't even try to ask for a second computer or you'll be waiting 5 years for a replacement.

If you go on a trip, expect to pay for a lot of legit expenses out of pocket... Hotel gives you free coffee and donuts? Lose your $7.50 breakfast per diem. Conference offers you free appetizers at the end of the day? Lose your $15 dinner per diem. Hotel's self park lot full? Well, don't count of valet parking being fully reimbursed. And if you screw up and expense something you shouldn't, they don't tell you. They just deduct it from the check.

Advice to Senior Management

Your workforce is very unmotivated and the best people are looking for jobs elsewhere. You can't continue to grow and make money if you only keep the bad people and drive away the good people.

Pros

Flexibility, challenging work, decent facilities

Cons

Ownership shielded from, and have lost touch with, reality, not a positive direction.

Mgmt cover their ineptitude.Long term Inexperienced staff in management positions can't complete tasks or are totally out of touch. Minimal to no accountability. Gestapo like HR practices. Losing long time productive staff . 2 HR groups that don't see eye to eye

Promotion based on who you know, not productivity or performance

New performance review primarily subjective, no support needed for negative appraisals

Advice to Senior Management

Get back in touch with long time employees, without mgmt & HR intervention. Be careful with new HR regime. If you don't, things will continue to go south

Pros

Friendly people
Nicely landscaped
One of the only options in the Inland Empire of Southern California
some interesting work, and occasionally cutting edge

Cons

Not a lot of new ideas-- Same stuff, sometimes repackaged
Hostile senior management. Their political battles are legendary.
Senior technical staff are routinely shuffled from team to team in Development, often to pit people against each other.
Underpaid in comparison to other software companies
Stagnant, stuck in time feel.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to lighten up, and allow more innovation. There is only one approved vision for the product, and everybody must toe the line.
Other companies are zooming ahead with more innovation, going to market faster.

Pros

If you're into GIS, Esri is the company to work for.
Great benefits if you're looking for (job) security and/or have a family.

Cons

Average Talent.
Average Salaries.
Tends to be more of a Geographic Research Institute than a software company.

Advice to Senior Management

Empower your employees and the results will been something you're proud of.

Pros

no lay offs, nice city, career wise and salary wise some departments are better to work for and some positions pay a lot better, but you have to be lucky to get into those positions

Cons

no career growth, no management (personnel or projects). low pay and low raises, employees always complaining about bad pay and raises, being stuck in a dead end job.

Advice to Senior Management

start listening to and caring about employee careers. ESRI is a sinking ship, it might take another 10 years for it to sink completely, but by then it will be too late.

Pros

- nice people
- good benefits

Cons

-no upward movement
- no appreciation

Advice to Senior Management

Offer opportunities for upward movement.

Pros

It's hard to beat the benefits - 100% medical and dental, a nominal fee for family members on vision, 401k matching and profit sharing.

Cons

The employees aren't trusted, in some departments aren't even allowed to pick their own screensaver. Company culture is supposed to friendly and social, but only a few people are actually allowed to socialize. Ineffectual employees with the right friends are able to blame their failures on others.

Pros

Benefit package is pretty strong, great health, dental, etc. and an excellent paid time off program IF you are exempt.

Cons

There is a poor balance of positions, if you are exempt, the world is your oyster, but if you are nonexempt you are a prisoner. The ability to bank hours for exempt employees encourages working long hours with little productivity. There is no career development, once you survive the incredibly lengthy interview process you are in, but you aren't going anywhere. All skills and knowledge have to be self taught as system encourages a lazy work environment and lack of knowledge sharing.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a better vacation policy, for both exempt and nonexempt. Have SOME career development.