Been working for a major defense contractor and I’m pleased to say I am leaving the company with all the headaches and deadweight they deserve to pursue a once in a lifetime opportunity. For four years I have seen turnover like nobody’s business. Just in 2021 alone I lost 7 people in my department due to HR refusing to raise wages/benefits to match competition. Even though myself and others are beating down the door and explaining over and over the problems myself and coworkers face. We complained to upper management about recruiting not being effective, and they handed us the system and training to do our own recruiting. We complained about procurement not being responsive enough to get us the tools and supplies we need, and they train us on how to do procurement. Final straw was when they started giving us tools to fix our own equipment instead of hearing us complain about the lack of maintenance. 7 mid-level managers have left because of burn-out or getting shat on in 4 months and I am proud to be the 8th, and I won’t be the last. Corporate has responded by sending people from HQ to figure it out and they are shocked to the core. Luckily, they were able to instantly raise wages for all hourly people by as much as 20% in some cases after hearing and seeing all the communication we’ve been giving for the last year. Still won’t be enough to keep me there. I’m sad to part ways with my crew and wish them all the best as I am relocated overseas. I hope they figure out the HR, safety manager (who tells people not to record incidents because she’s worried about corporate), and the director of Ops are the people really running that place into the ground. Not my problem anymore. Sorry for the rant but I have to vent before the exit interview.
TL;DR: 8th front-line manager to leave in 4 months because of shitty upper management. Peace.