The company values changed before the PE merger but it went downhill REAL fast after it went through. Aprio's growth is inorganic—acquiring other companies does not equal growth. It created chaos because of lack of efficient planning and lead to high turnover from employees forced to endure the changes. Ineffective and poorly planned software changes reduced efficiencies and promoted confusion since there was no training and/or the new software was not applicable to the job. Layoffs reduced my team to half and brought in new upper management that had NO IDEA what my job was. Glad-handing and "you can do it" does very little to mentor the employees. The reduction in team doubled my workload and no one in leadership cared to even empathize with feeling overwhelmed. Massive plans to outsource (the team is awesome, and the outsourcing is not the issue) did not help reduce the stress of client management or the never ending anxiety of dealing with high-importance clients in a fast paced environment. Nonexistent onboarding made serving the clients impossible. Someone above me was very passive aggressive and condescending co-worker to deal with, and the struggle to maintain confidence became a daily struggle.
Key red flags:
"We won't cross-train because that makes you too valuable to the firm."
"Your job is easy, and you're really good at it."
"Oh, it's okay if they leave. The job is easily replaceable."
"You need to stop caring."
"Why be promoted if you're just doing the same job." (Meaning I'm already doing the job... without the pay...)
In my time there, 5+ people have come and gone in a team of <5 (US). It's obviously not a replaceable job if no one stays and/or they can't hire people with sufficient experience. The only people who have lasted were internal transitions.
There is a chasm between the grunts (associates) and leadership. No one knows what's going on. There is no plan—ever. I gave more than enough notice and my final days there made leaving a negative experience that I will never, ever forget. Where my next job was became the water cooler gossip, and everything wrong was suddenly my fault in a firm that has #blamelessproblemsolving as a fundamental.
During my exit interview, I gave my feedback and the response was, "We're hearing that more and more." Sadly, nothing will change.
