Pros
After four years with CNRL, the pros include an unpretentious environment, Fridays off in July/August, office closures in December and several get togethers with food and drink (such as Stampede, Christmas, and Employee Day BBQs).
Kontras
If you have not noticed already, the pros listed above predominately revolve around getting away from the office. This is not the typical focus of an employee who loves his/her job and company. Executives are approachable and express an open door policy, but do not actually expect to have your thoughts heard. This applies to both execs and middle management. Directors and managers superficially express an interest to hear all thoughts and opinions, but the end result always comes back to the management's original decision. Very top down approach by managers who lack innovation and openness to differing ideas. Management's idea of receiving department feedback is to handout an "anonymous" survey which then requires employees to send their responses through Outlook emails, which obviously has their names associated to it. The questions on the survey were strategically written to convey criticism and negativity. Other companies I have experienced actually hire third party vendors to conduct truly anonymous surveys. The relations between employees themselves are toxic and lacks trust. Project and work responsibilities are often taken when employees are on vacation or credit is not given where deserved. Employees are treated as sweat shop workers. Safety is said to be a core focus of the company, yet take a look at their latest safety incident records in comparison with their competitors. They have significantly higher injury records. Benefits revolve around stock options, which is great when the Canadian oil economy as a whole is performing well, but terrible when stocks are down. Individual employees have no control over the payoff of their own performance. Outdated software and systems. Implementation of new software often involves stakeholders that have absolutely no experience in the field, yet have authority to make decisions on which to implement. Often leads to software that is purchased but do not meet the needs of stakeholders using it on a daily basis. It is humorous to think that the company's slogan even bothers to include the word "fun" within it. This company is anything but.