The top downside that I see at MetLife is that it is extremely difficult to make an impact. For a lot of applications the tech currency has reached a point where it is kind of silly to try to an improve it rather than replace it. As a software developer that is kind of demoralizing. I blame that on the heavy reliance on vendors, the inability to maintain FTEs that plan on staying long enough to have ownership in what they are building, and the way that projects are funded. Employees are also decentivized by the fact that a lot of processes that are built to help them are extremely inefficient and unknown to them. It feels like too much of the time, the solution to a problem is sending an email to a person that you have worked with in the past and calling in a favor.
From a career advancement standpoint the most talented people might advance, but their seems to be a barrier in how far they can make it without switching companies. The norm if you are an entry level employee is that you join the company, advance 1 promotion in around 3-5 years, and then leave the company. Some of the other posts mention that employees early in their career are basically stuck, but that is true for more experienced as well.
The HR policies regarding nonexempt workers and how they are enforced is kind of ridiculous. While most people work a 9-5 schedule, and qualifying for overtime is a non-issue, a significant number of managers are unaware or pretend to be unaware of the policy. My impression is that applying for overtime is a promotion killer (even though advancement isn't particularly common) and it looks bad on a manager's metrics. While it is also true that a lot of employees work less than the eight hours, if MetLife doesn't plan on following their employee contracts they should change the terms.
