One wonders where this is all heading...
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
The colleagues, the team spirit, the salary.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
RWE constantly complains in public that too much bureaucracy is slowing down the energy transition. Strangely enough, I experience the exact opposite within the company – this cursed bureaucracy is being expanded more and more internally. Now, for every business trip, you have to fill out a Word document (!) and get it signed by your line manager. I highlight this particular example because it perfectly illustrates this madness. There isn’t even a proper process behind it. Besides, the line manager sees the travel expense reports anyway. I just don’t understand why things like this are implemented. Personally, it takes away my motivation to travel for work, even though management is so eager for innovation and market exploration.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Trust your employees.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
With the continuous transformation of our office spaces into a single open-plan office, it’s starting to feel more and more like a call center – with fancy plant walls and other hybrid-office useless stuff that nobody needs. The noise level is exhausting, and this certainly won’t motivate employees to come to the office, which now somewhat resembles a labor camp.
And the cherry on top is that the Head of IT Infrastructure (MFP) subtly threatened in a town hall meeting that employees could be replaced by service providers from India if they weren’t willing to come into the office at least 60% of the time.
With this approach and the reduction of remote work, the company will no longer be competitive in attracting top IT talent in the long run. It all feels like conservative micromanagement from the last century.
Kommunikation
From my perspective, it’s really bad. There is already little communication within departments, but IT communication with the rest of the company is almost nonexistent. Colleagues frequently complain about not being informed about IT changes or updates. The truth is, we do communicate, but the channels are limited, hidden, and not prominently placed.
Meanwhile, the most unnecessary information is widely distributed and exaggerated. No one cares if some team had an offsite event or if a minor project was completed. We’ve read countless news updates about various SAP migrations, where people patted themselves on the back – yet when we actually have to use SAP, we find that many PR's and PO's were simply deleted or not migrated at all. And no one seems to care.
Work-Life-Balance
Meetings at 7 a.m. with Singapore and at 7 p.m. with the USA. Just because the company refuses to set up separate departments there, everything is managed from the EMEA time zone. Overtime is inevitable.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Line managers have little room for maneuver because they have to defend the often questionable decisions of higher management at all costs.
Interessante Aufgaben
Becoming fewer and fewer, as contributing ideas, attending industry conferences, and participating in innovation initiatives are increasingly being restricted.
Arbeitsbedingungen
As mentioned earlier, the ongoing transformation of our office spaces into a call center is frustrating. Focused work? Impossible with the noise level. I’m surprised that the workers’ council and the health & safety colleagues approved this.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
Salaries are above average, but when I see how some people receive astronomically high salaries despite not necessarily having more skills or experience, it’s frustrating – not just for me. The worst thing for a good employee is seeing bad employees being tolerated.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
There are some IT talent programs, but when even the line manager rolls their eyes at them and you see who gets nominated, you can only shake your head.