Pros
Historically strong mission and meaningful work. At its best, the company used to have exceptional leaders who believed in people, fostered psychological safety, and helped employees grow real careers. Competitive roles that were once highly sought after, with long tenure and deep institutional knowledge on the team. MARS offers very nice benefits. (Unfortunately, many of these positives reflect the past/not the current reality.)
Cons
Severe leadership dysfunction within this business unit, resulting in a hostile and unsafe environment. Extremely high turnover in what was once a stable, low-attrition team — multiple managers and over 16 team members gone in a short period of time (1-2 years). Pattern of excessive micromanagement, aggressive documentation, and threatening communications (including mass, multi-page emails outlining subjective or retroactive “failures”). Standards are not applied to everyone equally. What one person receives praise for, another receives criticism for. Employees returning from medical or protected leave face noticeably different treatment and sudden “performance concerns” despite spotless prior records. Over 10 team members have been ORDERED by doctors to take FMLA and/or short-term disability leave due to extreme mental collapse, suicidal ideation, physiological effects of long-term stress and uncontrollable anxiety & depression. HR/P&O investigations give the appearance of concern but result in no change. Over 20 people on 1 team have filed formal complaints against the SAME person(s) with serious accusations (misogyny, discrimination, inappropriate feedback, violating MARS codes of conduct) & a plethora of supporting documentation as proof. Concerns raised will be communicated to the person you filed them about & weaponized against you with blatant retaliation that violates US Department of Labor rules. Many people have consulted employment or civil rights attorneys, but at the end of the day it is too risky to try to go up against a giant corporation. At one point, corporate made a big production of acting like they were taking the patterns seriously and engaged the Ombudsman to investigate/speak to all employees confidentially. Nothing changed, except the HIRING of a new middleman in between Sales Managers & the VP. A "Sales Director" was added to the Team (and doesn't exist in other business units). It signaled, “We recognize there are challenges in Pro, and we’ve invested in new leadership talent to correct it.” It looks proactive, but is really just a patch for dysfunction. Leadership has been toxic, high-turnover, and underperforming. Instead of removing the OBVIOUS cause, corporate added a layer to control and protect. This Sales Director is there to Monitor and document employees (and managers), Create legal cover for future terminations or PIPs, Give upper management a sense of “stability” while avoiding admitting the Leader was the root cause. It buys corporate time and cover and contains a leadership crisis without actually fixing it. What makes this especially troubling is that many affected employees were long-tenured, high-performing, and deeply committed to the company.