As much as I looked forward to a new change in leadership, the culture has eroded tremendously since he started in January 2023. Several actions the past few months have eroded trust in management. Toxic management is common now. Individual contributors are holding the company together, yet they are being cut or offshored. Meanwhile, management layers that provide little value and only create silos continue to bloat with individuals making up their own job titles and roles, and soak up everyone's time with endless meetings. After being told in the second half of 2022 that Appen was a remote-first company, a so-called Return-to-Office was rushed in the space of a month. This RTO is a misnomer because most employees are not based out of an office nor ever worked out of one. Appen has expensive taste for talent but doesn't want to pay for talent, except for, apparently, at the senior mangement-level. This is demonstrated by the increased offshoring to the Philippines and India. This is a short-term gain or win for the executives, but will have disatrious long-term operational and cultural consequences. I'm disappointed to write this as I really enjoyed working at Appen.
