-Completely unrealistic expectations from the business development team and customers. While other companies will spend millions of dollars and have a team of several engineers working on a project for multiple years, VPI will propose to a customer to do the same amount of work in a few months for a fraction of the price with a single engineer. When we fail to meet our deadline it makes us all look bad.
-Nepotism is rampant in the company and the perks for having family in leadership positions at VPI seem pretty great. For example, last year upper management planned a "leadership retreat" to Solitude Mountain Resort. The CEO, upper levels of management, and the business development team were invited. Family members of at the lowest levels in the company were also invited. At a company of around 60 people, only 15 or so of us were left behind. You begin to feel a bit unwanted when you're constantly left out of the "family reunion" type atmosphere at VPI. This is one example, there have been many more in the last few years.
-Non-engineering staff must be treated very poorly as they are frequently in a bad mood. Getting help from purchasing, reception, or HR can be difficult. I've never been snapped at so many times at any other company I've worked at. I'm usually trying to make their job easier too!
-The asset management system (BPM) is a joke. Slow, difficult to use, and keeps getting worse. Projects sail along smoothly until it becomes time to use this monstrosity.
