Unnecessarily Stressful with Minimal Growth Opportunities - Anonymous employee ProEd Communications Employee Review

I had been looking forward to contributing to the ProEd team. However, in my experience, the position does not align with the description. Most of my tasks are primarily administrative or process oriented and do not well utilize my expertise. In contrast to what was presented during the interview and on the website, >90% of my work is on a single type of project limiting professional growth. The company puts consultants in difficult positions with the clients, which management does not address for future projects. For one instance, clear expectations and timelines for projects are routinely not set with the client by the project team prior to the project starting and the consultant does not have latitude to give input on these aspects. The consultant ends up in the middle with the client wanting more and faster results while the internal team wants the consultant to spender fewer hours per client and take on more work (but produce the same results) and to give the internal team more time for their support functions. Management has rigid processes and tasks consultants are expected to complete with the client, despite the client often wanting to work differently, so the consultant again ends up trying to work to conflicting goals. As an employee, I do not have the resources for projects to do my best work for clients. Sufficient time and clear direction including my role and responsibilities are not provided. In discussions with management when I ask for clarification and prioritization, the input given is to "just get it done" or "move it forward" without providing the details and support needed to make that possible. The workflow is not well planned or managed, on a day-to-day basis and even minute to minute I do not know what my work goals are, so I have to spend all of my time being reactionary and putting out fires instead of working efficiently. To help with scheduling, I asked my manager if I could mark some time on my calendar when needed to complete the frequently required 1 day or shorter turnarounds for client projects needing multiple hours to complete, so other tasks would not continue to be scheduled for the same time, but was told that was "not how we work" without another solution offered. 40 hours is stated as the basis for availability and billing, but in practice is a minimum every week. All travel is expected to be done in addition to a full workload and is often scheduled last minute including during evenings and weekends. On the very rare occasions I was able to meet the constantly shifting demands and still work a few more consistent 8 hour days, I was told that was not the expectation. In practice, flex time from week to week or comp time are not offered to accommodate the very heavy and inconsistent workflow. I have to provide my own coverage for most vacation time. Someone else would occasionally cover if a client meeting could not be moved, but other project work was not covered and had to be completed before being out of office or once I returned. Last minute work requests require me to skip professional development opportunities that I planned weeks in advance. Other opportunities for productive feedback, collaboration, and growth are also very infrequent. Overall, it feels like the company priority is getting the most work out of the employee.