-Very low pay. If you're going to work for LM, be sure to negotiate aggressively before accepting the job offer. From what I saw, management was always willing to negotiate and there was a lot of variation in what employees with the same job made salary-wise. This variation had NOTHING to do with talent, hard work or qualifications and everything to do with how much you demanded up front. Also, be confident during the interview process, especially when dealing with HR. HR never seemed to know anything about the different departments, so if you sounded like you knew everything, they assumed you knew everything and moved you forward.
-Once you're at LM, expect minimal pay increases that sometimes don't even cover cost of living.
-Their merit system is a joke. On the plus side, if you just want to work your 40 hours a week and put minimum effort into your job and maybe spend time with your family, you can do that here and you'll get the same rating as that person working 80 hours who's always going above and beyond and who is a real team player. However, if you're that 80+ hour team player, it doesn't work in your favor and no matter how hard you try, management will always find a reason to not give you that top rating.
-Non-functioning HR department. Sometimes I was not paid, I did not receive my health benefits the first year on the job due to a "computer glitch," and there were numerous other issues with actually using all the great benefits LM promises. Numerous other co-workers, at least in my division, had similar issues, though none as bad as mine. Basically, LM has a HR helpline that is expected to handle most of your HR issues, including issues with pay. Some of these helpline employees really try, but they only have the most basic information and the whole process is reminiscent of the DMV. For example, when I did not receive a pay check one week, I called my HR rep who told me to call the helpline. I called the helpline and they told me to call the HR rep. I went round and round until my manager and her supervisor, who were wonderful, stepped in and fought for several days to straighten out the situation.
-Chronic short-staffing. This really depends on how the contract is structured. Some contracts have it so that LM bills the client by the hour. These jobs are very cushy and employees can take forever to get the job done. Our contract was the opposite, we received a set pot of money to work with, so we had 50% of the employees we needed and that we had claimed we would have when we made the bid. What this meant was long hours (sometimes 80-100, usually 60 hours a week), working on holidays (I worked Easter, Fourth of July, Labor Day, for example), and LM was always pushing us to work more while pushing us to be more 'efficient.' At the same time, there were people in the unit who were playing around on the Internet all day, running off to Atlantic City unannounced for several days and who left early at 3pm most days. They were not fired and received the same performance reviews all the other employees received. So if you want to just get by, this is a great company.
