Research in Motion Reviews

Pros

Good compensation, nice colleagues, flexible hours, and lots of perks

Cons

Promotions are very difficult to get. All people are equal which means your title might not change for years even though you are promoted...

Advice to Senior Management

Transparency would motivate employees and foster synergy within the company. Respect employees by letting them know what is going on, and make sure organizations work together. The vast human resources of RIM operate in separate islands and not as a big unit...

Pros

- Competitive pay in the US (I hear in Canada it's less)
- You won't deal with introverted developers or weirdo's
- Great people, everyone is outgoing and wants to do good work
- Lot's of freedom to take on new challenges
- Managers are supportive

Cons

- Benefits are just "ok"
- Hard to transition to a new career path
- Upward growth opportunities are non-existant
- No clearly defined roles, so receiving a promotion or pay raise happens when management feels like it, not when you've accomplished all goals and exceeded expectations
- We don't even get much of a discount on BlackBerries

Advice to Senior Management

Have better interviews to hire smarter people, they are the one's creating your product and right now the product is reflecting the talent at RIM.

Pros

Learned a lot technology wise.
Good training programs.
One of the best benefits package.

Cons

Certification trainings are not paid equally between departments, lack a central policy on employee certification trainings. Some teams pay in full for trainings other zero for the same training.
Promotions are seldom on merit. (who you know matters most).
Too much politics.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop saying I am a leader and prove it (actions speak louder than words)

Pros

friendly enviroment to work with other people;
good place to learn new technology;

Cons

company is facing challengy;
delayed product release;

Pros

One of the biggest high-tech companys in Canada after Nortel was down
It was growing very fast

Cons

It is going down, not sign to stop

Advice to Senior Management

Take care

Pros

Processes are finally put in place, facilities are professional and clean, benefits are fairly good, pay is competitive, new technooogies usually exciting

Cons

Pay is competitive but you need to push for raises if you think you are worth more, decision making as a company is lacking

Advice to Senior Management

Ditch the pride aand be less opinionated about the competition. Be smarter about time to market products and npt necessarily faster (realize what are releasing to the market relative to the competition)

Pros

Good co-workers
Freedom to innovate
Relaxed work environment
Corporate philanthropy, green initiatives
Good corporate citizen

Cons

Clueless management - unclear which direction to steer the teams in.
Most senior managers have the WIIFM attitude rather than working towards RIM's betterment.

Advice to Senior Management

We can win... but someone needs to take control of the teams and lead them in one unified direction.

Pros

--Good benefits and learning resources
--Challenging technical roles
--Friendly teams that are willing to help when you ask.

Cons

-IT structure is way too bloated.
-Legal stalls everything
-Senior Management doesn't communicate to the employees at all

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more often with your employees and help them weather the storm that the company now faces.

Pros

-opportunity
-responsibility
-dynamic and fun
-team was very good
-lots of coop students around
-location was good
-campus like feeling in waterloo

Cons

-large company presents poor communication
-growth was too fast
-slowing down now
-a lot of people could not communcate effectively
-experience of employees

Advice to Senior Management

Work with your employees to minimmize the impact of rapid growth. Move towards market leadership by innovating with your employees.

Pros

relaxed workplace to work for in canada. It is not easy to move around the company between teams.

Cons

Not much compensation is given. Incentives are limited in the company.

Advice to Senior Management

They should hire more selectively. The recruitment is weak.