There’s definitely a culture of favoritism among upper management. They will bend over backwards, seemingly creating new positions out of thin air, just to promote their favorites. Meanwhile, I had to push for about three or four months for a promotion into a role for which I had already been doing the workload (and consistently praised for doing it well). Completely arbitrary obstacles apparently prevented me from getting that promotion and the fault always got punted to someone else or even to a different department. The company consistently raves about “owning your success” and promoting internally, but if there is even one reason why you perhaps aren’t 100% qualified for the job, despite there being 100 reasons why you ARE qualified, they will cite that one reason to keep you where you are. A measly pay bump and a new title weren’t worth the runaround so I told them to forget it and I got a new job elsewhere - it never seems to occur to them that perhaps the reason for employee dissatisfaction or turnaround is due to non-competitive pay/benefits and bureaucratic nonsense. I think this is a great place to work for maybe 1 - 3 years, gain some experience, make connections within your professional network, then move on to something new because you will work your behind off, but not get any worthwhile promotions or pay raises. Heck. the merit bonuses don’t even cover inflation.