Where should I start?
Problem 1: Top tier management is disconnected from the mass of workers who actually make Sage possible. They enact all sorts of useless programs without caring or knowing how it affects everyone. For them life is great because they can claim on their resume they enacted all sorts or programs that had great success, all in time for when they move on to other companies.
Problem 2: Top tier management (VPs and above) do not care what you think, no matter if your idea is better than theirs. A few of them are straight up arrogant as seen in one of the PTO posts.
Problem 3: Sage has a history of hiring poor upper management. The clowns immediately before these top leaders (i.e. before Steven Kelly and gang) started some pretty bad programs too, resulting in the loss of many talented and skilled employees.
Problem 4: The development team, support team, and even sales team are reduced to the point where Sage is in danger of never recovering. For example, the development team went through multiple layoffs that a team that once took an entire floor is now down to just a corner. Many development team members who actually knew the software got laid off. Those who know what's good for them all quit. Most of the people remaining don't know the product well or don't know how to code or QA, resulting in product releases with various bugs or some products being completely neglected.
Due to the point immediately preceding this one, Support lost a lot of talented and skilled employees, many of whom wrote a lot of the KB articles the new temp people (and long time existing employees) and customers use. What management appears oblivious to is when all the seasoned people are gone, who the heck is going to write these KBs?
Problem 5: Due to the point immediately preceding this one, and due to self-proclaimed smart top tier management making decisions that local management should be making, a lot of tech people were put into non-tech areas, and non-tech people were put into tech areas. A lot of the non-tech people are in no position to help with financial matters, and a lot of the tech people are in no position to help with anything remotely tech-related! It's both sad and laughable.
Result: Customer hold times and volumes skyrocket and no one gets any time to work on anything as other posts have noted. The only alternative they came up with is to hire new temp people, by the dozens (we're talking 50+ new people), repeatedly. They're given almost no training, for the sole reason of picking phones quicker. Don't get confused. This isn't because management wants to help customers quicker (or properly) but because they don't want to get in trouble from upper management. Gee, I wonder how much money was spent on hiring these temps when they could have retained a lot of knowledgeable people?
If you are a customer reading this, be mindful that it's not the analyst you're speaking with that's to blame. It's management. Be kind on those surveys. Ironically, bad surveys reflect poorly on support analysts and good surveys are spun by management as reflecting proof management is doing the right thing. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone but management.
Problem 6: Top tier management cannot admit when they are wrong and continuously punish those who make Sage possible and bearable to work. They have laid off a lot of development and sales members over the years, and plan on laying off more people throughout the 2016 year. They are moving jobs from Irvine to Atlanta. Your guess is as good as mine. But, I wonder if it has something to do with California law prevents Sage from screwing employees. Nah, Sage wouldn't do that.
Management: Oh, things are going wrong. It's not us or the outrageous rules and programs we put in place. It has to be everyone else. Let's lay off these lazy workers to reduce cost and make the company financials look good. Yep, that's the mentality management is taking.
Again, what the hell are you going to do when all your talent has left the company? Hire new temp EVERYONE to cover for all the lost talent? Laughable.
