Thank you Lincoln team!
Even the friends already in Lincoln are stating and questioning why would anyone make the move! After Fiserv, you have to move again. The COE is an old dump! This is not Columbus, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta or Orlando! Run!
7 replies (most recent on top)
Half cube farm. Unless you are a manager, then you work out of a fish bowl.
I realize many of you are asking these questions to truly decide on a fair basis if you should move or accept the loss of your job. Let me start by saying that the fact you're investigating it, you've almost certainly put more thought into this than the exec(s) who made the order.
The shameful thing is the relocation packages are a one sided joke. I know many that were given these orders a year or two ago when there were far fewer people being ordered to move, and much more money to incentivize them.
Lets look it through in a bit of detail:
- The moving grants are on average 1/4 to 1/3 of the required funds to move properly (unless you intend to rent a u-haul, pack it, drive it, un-pack it, and return it yourself, in which case you might get about half the expenses covered)
- The moving grants come with strings attached. You have to commit to 2 years of employment, or to pay the grant back in full.
- The strings are not reciprocal. While you must commit to 2 years, the company can lay you off or fire you while you're in mid-transit with no repercussions.
- Your pay will not be adjusted or normalized to the area you're moving to. So you will start out underwater from moving expenses, then you'll likely continue to sink as the cost of living expenses above and beyond your current expenses eat away at any savings you have.
- You will likely lose or diminish any support structure you have after the move potentially making you more dependent on your job and less likely to push back on abusive behavior or unfair treatment.
- Housing in all of the locations is likely to be more expensive than you're currently paying and you will get little to no assistance with it. The rent or cost of housing will prohibit you from living a reasonable distance from an office you'll be expected to be in most every day of the week.
- The job market in the new location may not be as vibrant, or may be more competitive thereby reducing your options to get out of Fiserv later.
- Despite the flowery language, most of the Fiserv facilities, including the newest built ones, are rubbish. They have janky tech, cheap materials, and are built to look good at the cost of functionality. i.e. no ethernet (cause the cords are ugly) and over committed wi-fi that is slow and unreliable, poor parking, poor seating, etc.
- Your commitment will not be recognized. You won't be given any deference or latitude for going above-and-beyond. You'll still be treated like any other "resource". i.e. if they want to move you again three month later you'll be expected to be a good little drone and pack your family up again. If they decide on another round of layoffs you're as likely to be chosen as anyone else, etc.
- Most importantly: THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO MOVE. They expect you to decline. The logistics of moving that many people is complicated and expensive. One of the US Military's top skills is logistics; look how much time, money, and effort they put into it. Do you see anything like that here? Not only are they offering a one-sided deal, on top of that they will bungle it up at every step and externalize those problems to you; all while expecting your job performance not to suffer. If it does they will happily fire you for cause.
Many have said "don't move, it's not worth it. Not for this company." But hopefully after laying out some of the reasons why; you'll conclude that its a much wiser choice to brush up your resume and find a new position in a new company with a better life where you might just get some respect and work/life balance.
Good luck in your choice!
Can we get some real intel? How is the working environment? Is it high tech like google, apple etc or just another cube farm?
Are there project rooms to do true daily standups or is Agile in name only?
The lincoln website does not really offer any insight other than its not very diverse. DEI is less important than tax breaks.
Is there anything positive about the Lincoln location? Anything at all? Is there really a prison nearby?
NJ is built on a "Superfund" site... a literal govenment funded toxic waste clean up site... tax incentives for Frank for sure. 🤢
Nor the armpit of America New Jersey.
No one wants to move to the armpit that is Nebraska.