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Quite a few talented individuals. Unfortunately, some of them have been blinded by, or promoted, the restrictive technology stack.

Some people might enjoy the work-life balance.

Inexperienced management, driven by fear, not by idea sharing and a desire to improve. The only ones who have survived are those who lowered their heads and kept their mouths shut to anything the CIO said. Managers only have time for their petty squabbles and political power plays, overlooking the pressing issues of their employees.

Inconsistency and lack of transparency in decision-making. There's constant secrecy about direction, future projects, promotions, and salaries/bonuses.

Low salaries for the kind of work requested.

Cheap and bureaucratic about every single thing. You can't get a sticker without some big manager approving it.

Technology is from 10 years ago, and the technology "leadership" likes to keep it that way. Any project outside of "Perl City" is shut down (literally) unless you're one of the few "special people" – lone wolves who are allowed to choose any technology they want.

I'm looking to Darren's and Gillian's help here, since the issue is far greater than something that can be fixed within the IT department.

Fire the IT "leadership" team, starting with the CIO and ending with most senior managers and senior team leads. Look at the management surveys and yearly surveys to see which ones you need to keep at a STL level; data doesn't lie. This self-entitled group of individuals has promoted a "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" policy, where people who actually care about the company and its employees get shut down from the start. Any conversation about bad management, opaque benefit schemes, low salaries, or a distracting environment is immediately (and sometimes violently) dropped. There is such a disconnect between management and reality that we, as a group, are losing focus and have reached a plateau where we cannot grow under such constraints and utter disregard for employee satisfaction.

Once that is done, hire professionals who have actually had "management" in their title at one point in their life, not people who attended a one-day course, go out drinking with the right people, and call themselves leaders. A track record of managing large IT companies (not 100 people) would do wonders, since from a technology standpoint, we're running 10-15 years behind.

We're sick and tired of tens of surveys that nobody cares about, for which we're only having a meeting once a year to discuss how great we are, even though the scores are sharply dropping!