Oracle

Great colleagues Flexible work environment (working from home, shifted hours) Flexible benefits (purchase extra vacation days, healthcare levels, etc.) There is a bonus scheme, but it varies depending on if you are in sales or support.

Too much process for customer and support engineers to overcome to work effectively together.

Engineers are constantly pushed to "do more with less."

Accountability is constantly being pushed down to those working "at ground level."

Virtual training classes are promoted over classroom training.

Profit is more important than technological innovation.

"Self-service" culture is endemic. IT support, HR, Personnel services, etc., are driven through anonymous web portals. It's a faceless experience for both employee and customer, in my humble opinion.

The work-from-home policy is not managed such that office social contact is critically impaired.

Limited career progression. This is a combination of limited positions available and process-targeted management, which means a manager does not have the time or the inclination to help with employee programs such as 'mentoring' or 'professional development'.

The emphasis appears to be to allow good talent to leave rather than to investigate if they can be encouraged to stay.

"Tick box" culture is widespread, presumably because the company is so huge that they need to keep account of things somehow.

Oracle, I ask you to:

• Resist destroying the culture of an acquired company but adopt the good things.
• Stop buying-in technology but innovate yourselves. You have so much talent in-house who can make great products and provide the services to match.
• Truly integrate and embrace those companies you have acquired. All I saw were 'ghettos' of personnel from previously acquired companies occupying floors in a building. It may have said Oracle on the building, but you could quite easily put 'Pillar' or 'Sun' on each floor.
• Rationalize the amount of process which the employees need to work through to get their job done effectively and with minimum stress to their customers. Some, of course, is necessary, but think about what you are really trying to monitor.
• If you see good talent leaving, ask why and if there is something which can be done to change their minds.
• Ditch the "self-service" culture where possible. Encourage people to talk to each other when there is a problem, not a portal. Bring some humanity back to people's jobs.