Poorly managed with very little care for employee wellbeing or development - werkgeversreview Research Associate bij Route2

Experience at Route2 overall was very challenging. There were a few positives at the time I worked there, however. Mainly that it attracted many kind, capable colleagues who worked hard. I appreciated the people I worked with and the commitment shown across the team, particularly during challenging times in the company. There were opportunities to build skills (like research, analysis, communication, etc). Remote work was consistently supported.

In my experience, the working environment became increasingly difficult due to management practices and structure. Expectations and priorities often shifted (sometimes with limited explanation), with feedback being reactive or contradictory. This made it difficult to understand what 'good' looked like and to work effectively. There were instances of day-to-day tasks being very closely monitored, which felt excessive and undermined autonomy. There were repeated delays to salary payments, ranging from days to weeks. This created significant financial pressure and stress for us employees. Despite these delays, we were generally expected to continue working and maintain delivery as normal. The company also struggled to consistently secure and retain clients, which only worsened the overall financial health of the company. There was no independent HR function or an independent process for raising workplace concerns. Issues therefore had to be raised directly with senior management. In my experience, this made it difficult to raise concerns constructively and safely, particularly where those concerns related to management behaviour or decision-making. This entire structure often lead to a lack of accountability and meaningful change. Given the above, this was not a sustainable working environment and I would strongly recommend avoiding this workplace.

I'll try to be as objective as possible in this review, but overall my experience at Route2 was very difficult. I'm sure my former colleagues would agree. In spite of this, there were certainly some positives. In my time at Route2, the company went through a period of about 2 years of prosperity. It seemed as though there was a lot of money coming in and a lot of work to do. You can probably infer this from the many 5 star review during this period. During this time the positives were: - Remote work (this was always available) - Good opportunities for interesting work - Opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge - A team of really wonderful people

After this period of prosperity, things deteriorated dramatically and rapidly. There were always problems with the leadership team which ultimately kickstarted a series of staff leaving the company. This made it very difficult to maintain the work that had been done, as senior members of staff were constantly leaving. Not enough work was coming in to support the costs of running the business, and the regular financial updates tended to be much more optimistic than the reality. Eventually, money became very tight which led to pay issues (multiple instances of late payments, from a few days to a few weeks of late pay) that caused many other staff members to leave. Those of us that couldn't find other opportunities remained until the end when we were ultimately all let go. The final few months of work from about July until October have still not been paid, with no indication of when we might receive that money. On top of these pay issues, there were also many issues with the management which are noted in other reviews. For example, early on in my time there, we were all promised pay increases that would arrive "when the finances could support it". Unsurprisingly, this pay increase never fully materialised. When I joined, I was also promised shares in the company. As it turns out, they wouldn't have been very useful anyway, but they were also never issued despite multiple updates saying they were "coming soon". Whilst the company has a vision to do good work and have a positive impact, the clients seem mostly disengaged with having a positive impact and more concerned with meeting a reporting requirement or just receiving numbers which make them look good. This sometimes leads to pieces of work where you are tasked with finding "social value" in company initiatives which are fruitless, in reality. The people that made this a good place to work a few years ago are no longer there. Overall, I would strongly recommend avoiding this workplace, unless there are serious changes made, you are likely to be overloaded with work and given very little direction. It is also quite likely that your pay will be inconsistent.