Ongoing attrition is significantly depleting the company’s experience base. While the ambition for growth remains, pursuing such aspirations in a declining market feels increasingly unrealistic, especially when employee welfare appears to be sacrificed to meet the expectations of new ownership.
There is a pattern of poor strategic decisions from the Senior Leadership Team that result in months of wasted effort and diverted resources from critical initiatives, only for projects to be abandoned at the last minute. This not only demoralises teams but also undermines trust in leadership.
Although Animal Friends promotes a strong narrative around staff wellbeing through company-wide webinars and campaigns, there is a stark disconnect between these messages and the day-to-day reality. Work-life balance, once a key attraction for new roles, has deteriorated as staff are now consistently overworked without additional compensation. Flexible working is touted as a benefit, but in practice, it is often used to placate concerns rather than address them.