Oh, my, yes. I could write a book about my experiences with this (figure of speech…I’m not going to write a book, what are you kidding? Me, write a book?).
I was quite content working as a software implementation consultant for a small company. I knew the owners and they knew everyone who worked for them. I had spent many years in corporate jobs and management before becoming a consultant and was quite happy to leave all that behind. I found that culturally most all of the people at the company doing my job shared a certain iconoclastic individuality. We had all been through the corporate mill and liked being away from it and doing project work for clients.
Well, somewhere along the line the owners concluded the numbers weren’t adding up anymore - during the economic downturn a few years ago small business credit froze and they never really got back to where they wanted to be to grow at the right pace. So, they took the plunge and sold to a giant big 4 (big 6? who can keep track of what the number is anymore…) auditing firm that was getting back into the software implementation business. We were told by our leadership that “nothing would change for us” - that we would keep doing what we were doing, it would just roll up to new set of books. OK, I guess, let’s see where this all goes…
Part of the deal they struck with the new company was that all of us consultants would come over as Managers in the new company. Fundamentally, this was because we were well paid at the old company and this is how they needed to level us in order to justify our pay. OK, I guess, let’s see where this all goes…
So, we come over and they bombard us with volumes and volumes of onboarding materials, websites with thousands of links leading to thousands of more links leading to thousands of more links - please read it all. Because it’s an audit firm we are subject to buttloads of stinky regulations regarding our personal finances that we need to report to management - we need to get approval for who we have our accounts with, which investments we choose, etc. There was some questions about my spouses employement that required a ruling from their legal department. YIKES!!
And we were all sent to Dallas for an orientation meeting. The meeting was entirely a download of more information about how they do things, nary a moment spent making any attempt to recognize and bridge the clear cultural gaps between where we were coming from to where they wanted us to be. More training, more orientation, all delivered as if we were new hires into our position as Manager. Again, nothing tailored for us being acquired and the differences therein.
Also, in the old company we all worked virtually, travelled to the client site to do our work or worked from home. Well, the new company expected us to be in the office when we weren’t at a client site. They really didn’t get the whole travel to the client thing.
Naturally, the people we interacted with in the offices were a different breed. Business Major go-getters hoping to make Partner someday. Not my ilk - not my milieu.
Well, eventually it became clear that being a Manager had job requirements - not the least of which was responsibility for generating revenue - selling. We had specific number to hit. So, eventually it came performance review time and we were being evaluated based on all of the Manager job requirements. Whereas in the past I was considered an excellent software implementation consultant, I was now considered a sub-par audit firm Manager.
I won’t even get into the type of work they tried to sell me for - which was not even close to what I had been doing for the last 20 years.
So, bye-bye! I walked away from an annual bonus, as well as a retention bonus if I had stayed at least 18 months - I left a lot of money on the table. I was not alone by any stretch of the imagination. A large percentage of my friends also left.
Thankfully, I am in a field where it is easy to get a job, and I have lots of contacts. I slipped right into another firm much like my old firm and I’m back doing software implemetation consulting.
(Bye the way - I heard through the grapevine that one of the original owners left also after the sale was final.)