Steer Clear - Software Developer Computer Information Concepts Employee Review

As a current employee of CIC and after reading through these past reviews I feel I need to voice an opinion that isn't made with a moment of hate or anger. CIC has a culture of hard work reaps high rewards. If you show up, care about your work and the company, you will be rewarded greatly, in both salary and respect. CIC was extremely upfront and honest during the interview and hire process, that this company doesn't fall within the typical 40 hour work week, and that it is closer to an average of 42 hours per week. With CIC being so honest, I knew what to expect and have come to embrace it. I feel many of the poor reviews that have been made have been because the individual heard this, but didn't expect it to be true. Slightly longer hours comes with a smaller family owned business, especially one with more than 600 customers in 20 states. CIC even has a saying within the company for this, "At CIC, you will never be bored." A huge pro that I have not seen mentioned is that this company has an incredible amount of stability and job security. CIC has had remote employees for years, since the 90s. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when lay offs were at an all time high and many people were left without a paycheck, CIC was sure to put the safety and health of their employees first, AND still hire throughout those dark times. Because there have been remote employees for so long, upper management simply sent 20+ employees to work remotely who were originally working from the corporate office. Along with job security, CIC is in business in both the hardware and software sides of school district and county / municipality markets. This means, that if one of the sides of the business were to begin performing poorly, it wouldn't lead to the company shutting down or lay offs, but simply focusing it's energies into the other market. CIC has constantly grown in size the 40 years it has been in business, from 8 customers in 1982 to over 600 in 2021. Not to mention that the average tenure of employment is just under 10 years by a couple decimals. People tend to stick around, and during that time will be rewarded for their hard work. At CIC, an employee isn't considered a number that can be replaced, but rather a person who has their talents and strengths that we will not be able to find again. If you want to be respected and seen in a work place, this place is for you. For local employees, the pros of working out of the corporate office are free lunches, $20 internet reimbursement, your own desk / cubicle, free office supplies, a workout room, showers, and being able to see the whites of upper management's eyes. The President, Executive Administrative Assistant / Treasurer, Controller / HR Director, and Executive Vice President all work out of the corporate office. For remote employees, the pros are full internet reimbursements, mileage reimbursement, company provided office supplies and equipment and a company credit card (for car rentals, hotel stays, office supplies, etc.). The only thing remote employees have to provide coming into CIC is a desk and chair to sit at. Insurance benefits include health, dental, vision, life, and short term / long term disability. There is also 401k savings (plus company contribution), vacation, sick, funeral, jury duty / witness, time off to vote, and military leave options, as well as tuition reimbursement (if it is going to advance you within CIC, of course) For a small family owned company, CIC is rich in benefits for employees, and plenty of room to grow. I will personally be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement to further my growth in the company, and it has been well supported and appreciated by my supervisor and upper management. CIC encourages their employee's careers to grow, through more than just experience at a company.

Vacation does only begin after one year of employment, but as long as you plan around this, there will be no problems. Along with that, the longer you are at CIC, the more vacation you earn and are able to use. I personally put the work / life balance rating at 4 stars, simply because the typical work week is more than at a different full time job. Personally, I don't see this as a problem, but for a outsider looking in, this does need to be noted.

● I liked my coworkers and direct supervisor ● Supporting school districts was rewarding work ● work from home was very convenient

● I was laid off with zero warning and zero severance. ● Salary was less than $50,000 a year. ● 10 PTO days, 3 sick days, 8 paid holidays. According to the employee handbook you’ll be upgraded to 15 days of PTO after seven years. Could be even worse but truly nothing to write home about. ● My health insurance was about $350 per month for pretty basic coverage for just me, no spouse or kids. Provider is United Healthcare. Again, could be even worse, but for me personally this was by far the most expensive health insurance I’ve ever had. ● Performance reviews (which are required to get a raise) are constantly months and months late. I never had a performance review happen anywhere close to when it was promised. Multiple coworkers confirmed this is a chronic issue. ● I received one raise of about 70 cents per hour, which was not enough to keep up with inflation. By the time I was laid off my salary had less purchasing power than it did when I was hired, and I was three months overdue for a performance review. ● I regularly worked more than 40 hours each week but was not paid for any of this extra work until the law changed and they were legally required to either increase my salary or make me an hourly employee. They chose to make me hourly. ● Very high turnover. Management claims the average employee’s tenure is ~10 years but this number is heavily skewed by a handful of employees who have spent their entire career with CIC. By the time I was laid off I was one of the longest serving members of my team, as almost every single person who was there when I started only two years ago had left the company. ● Additional details about getting laid off: a contract which represents a massive chunk of CIC’s business was abruptly canceled. This was obviously very concerning, but leadership struck a reassuring tone in meetings, saying things like, “CIC has been around for a long time,” “we have built relationships with our customers that won’t change,” etc. then about a week later I got an unscheduled zoom call from the COO who did all of the talking while the CSO and CEO stared at me without saying anything. I was told I was being let go with no severance, then about a minute later, I was signed out of everything. Based on peoples’ LinkedIn profiles it looks like a lot of people were laid off with me, including people who had been working there for 10+ years. I understand layoffs were necessary, but zero warning, zero severance and zero chance to say goodbye to my team really sucked. They could have very easily told us the truth ahead of time that layoffs were going to happen, and they could have very easily offered even just a week or two of severance, but they didn’t. Management says all of the same things you’ll hear at any company, “we’re a family,” and all that, but if you had to lay off someone who you really cared about, is this how you would do it?