| Sr. Marketing Analyst - Enterprise Market Development |
QUALCOMM's corporate culture is rooted in family tradition and often a
victim of it's fast growth and success. QUALCOMM maintains an open-door
policy for all levels of employees. The company relies on email and
streaming video for the majority of its communication efforts.
Quarterly live presentations regarding the company's goals, strategy
and policies are held. The company is structured both geographically
and departmentally with each department head holding responsibility for
its own policies, procedures; and each having a different corporate
culture. In general the dress code is business casual. The company
strives to provide a healthy environment for growth including life
style benefits, e-learning, health and fitness and team-bulding
functions. Opportunities for advancement are highly politically
charged. Although these opportunities exist, it is commonly known that
the positions are pre-filled and often not based on qualifications.
That is not to say, however, that over a long period of time, one
cannot advance. Longevity is rewarded, regardless of competency. There
is much diversity in our corporation which provides for a healthy and
exciting work environment. QUALCOMM offers 'flex hours' if approved by
managment. Employees work a standard work week, however, if they desire
different hours, they are told that they can work with their immediate
manager for approval.
Working for QUALCOMM has been an interesting experience. Initially, the
benefits and environment were somewhat of a dream job. Great benefits,
somewhat flexible schedule, tools to get the job done - it seemed like
the sky was the limit. After being immersed in some of the corporate
politics, I am greatly disheartened. There are numerous inefficiencies
within my department - wasted meeting time, unnecessary jobs created to
lessen political strife, many non-productive employees and no growth
path. The Human Resource department exists in name only. The processes
and procedures that I have been involved with never resolve themselves.
They are unprofessional and inefficient. I stated earlier that QUALCOMM
is a victim of it's fast growth. By that I mean that structures were
put in place during the period of fast growth in an attempt to
accomodate for the growth. These structures/procedures have now
magnified themselves within the large organization that QUALCOMM now
is. Whereas there were definitive job titles during the growth period;
to avoid promoting people too soon, several "Senior" and "assistant"
titles were put into place. These titles never held explicit job duties
and or qualifications, needless to say any goals or strategic
direction. Consequently the general rule (according to HR) is that one
has to be in a certain job for a certain amount of years before getting
promoted. This period lengthens the higher one climbs. This is in
direct conflict with what HR says when we are all hired: your raises
and promotions are based entirely on your output. QUALCOMM is notorious
for underpaying employees and trying to compensate with stock options.
This too is reflected in the pay grades for each title - the variances
are so great that one can feasibly remain in a job for years regardless
of skill set. QUALCOMM does reviews twice a year. The process is
seemingly efficient, however the deliverables are skewed. The budget
for raises has to be submitted first. Then a review is done of the
employee and he/she gets a portion of the departments budget for raises
(company mandated percentage). Then each manager fights for his
employee while other managers (having nothing to do with the employee,
his output or his skillset) can argue against them. Actual written
reviews are not taken into account. The employee then gets a review,
the raise - and then waits 2 weeks before he/she even gets a formal
written review indicating performance in different areas. Goals are to
be set, but not mandated. If one exceeds his/her goals, this does not
guarantee a raise. Promotions are dependent upon the Department's
promotion percentage - company mandated. If the department can give
only one promotion, it typically goes to the person who has waited the
longest. There are other incentives in place to award employees,
however, rarely are they used.
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