The aforementioned talented people typically don't last very long.
Pay far under the industry average in the area.
For the average employee, the opportunities for promotion are severely limited. Politically adept or highly favored individuals are promoted rather than those deserving based on merit.
Which brings me to my next point. My single biggest gripe about the company is how amazingly political and bureaucratic it is; especially considering the size of the company. Middle management has very little oversight and depending on the team you're in, favoritism and double standards are rampant. If you get on your manager's bad side; or if you get on the bad side of somebody they favor more than you, things can get very difficult very quickly.
For these unfortunate individuals, the work they do and their level of competence and productivity don't matter.
Verbal status reports (and the occasional written ones) are typically ignored if its not directly affecting a high visibility project. Stand-ups are more of a way for managers to relay information to you than for you to talk about your status or any issues that may have come up with your tasks. Getting issues, both personal and project-related documented (typically via email to a manager) is a necessity. Speaking directly with a coworker regarding a problem will get you in trouble if a dispute arises for any reason.
Middle managers are not trained adequately. They don't understand how to resolve disputes within the team or coordinate effectively with other teams. They are not trained on alternative leadership styles, such as those found among their team leads, and as such are not receptive toward any management style other than their own. And often, managers resort to a blame game should any problems arise, either interpersonal or project-related.
Finally, I'm not certain what level the decision was being made from, but job/career-altering announcements are often kept secret from employees. The announcement of the death of the project you're working on or being shuffled to another team is often the first indication a low level employee has that something is wrong.
