Pluspunten
Mostly remote, which was the best part because these are not people I wanted to see in person. Mostly remote, which was easily the best part. The role was educational in the sense that it showed me exactly what weak corporate structure looks like in real time.
There was a welcome buffet, which gave me the opportunity to make awkward small talk while quietly realizing I needed to start applying elsewhere. So there’s that. Not sure why they have these welcome buffets when people leave so quickly. Bathrooms relatively clean.
Minpunten
This company is a masterclass in disorganization. The turnover is constant, the processes are half-baked, and the amount of corporate theater would be funny if it were not so exhausting to work through. Took 7 interview rounds for my position which was ridiculous. When I wasn’t called on actual scheduled day for screen with no explanation should have been sign. Extremely disorganized. So many meetings where people talk in circles and you smile and nod to stroke their ego so you can get paid. “Leaders” lose composure frequently and start belittling others.
Recruiting in particular felt chaotic and poorly managed. There was a lot of talk about “strategy,” but very little actual strategy. In practice, “strategy” often seemed to mean pushing work downward while they worked on “strategy”, acting very busy while other people carried the workload. Chaotic corporate structure so people like this were able to hide; gap between title and actual contribution was hard to ignore. Managers who were just hired in figured out there’s no accountability so decided they were remote while others were mandated to go in. No one caught on how unfair this was but it made many quit. Bosses claim to be working on strategy all the time to the point it felt like Black Mirror episode because they did nothing all day. Finally figured out it was time to quit this clown show. It was less about business needs and more about ego, optics and control. Turnover is incessant.
The leadership culture is bizarre. The ass-kissing is outrageous. Certain leaders are treated like they walk on water, and the energy when they appear is almost like everyone should pull out their phones and take pictures because a corporate celebrity has entered the building. When an executive needs to be pulled into a meeting, you would think the Pope would be attending. Got to be trifling fast. Meanwhile, the company itself is struggling, the definition of Rust Belt decay, people keep leaving, morale is low, and the reviews tell a very different story from the internal hype.
There is a lot of performance and very little substance. People love the language of leadership and catch phrases like “We are One Team” but the actual day-to-day experience is confusion, abrupt quitting, uneven expectations (ie must attend pointless conference even though drowning in work), pitiful pay, unclear priorities, and employees being overloaded while “managers” posture. Good people don’t really get hired in because they don’t offer enough and if they somehow slip through the cracks, they definitely don’t stay. Midwestern mediocrity core.
Overall, this is the kind of place where people talk about “culture” because they do not have one.