All of the cons of working at BE can be traced back to the toxic culture that has been created from the top down. You will be micromanaged and gaslit day in and day out. Micromanaging is viewed as a way of building "trust" within employees. Once you can be trusted, you will then be awarded autonomy. However, at any time that trust can be broken and the process will start over. Cameras are required to be on in every meeting and things like zoom background, appearance, engagement on camera, etc. will be observed by upper management. Part of the expectation of working at BE is that you will always be available to the business, especially in the remote environment. Employees are expected to be available via text, slack, call, teams, email, and so on at any point. There had been times when I left a meeting to go to the bathroom and came back to multiple messages asking me to turn my camera back on. There will be many days when you feel suffocated by your own schedule and the inability to step away. Recently it has become more clear that a motive in growing the Cleveland office is this incorrect assumption that employees in Cleveland have lower business acumen and understanding of start-up culture than employees of the Bay Area. Despite being from Cleveland, I am well aware of what it takes to reach a "unicorn" valuation and am not tricked into thinking an increasing cash balance after 14 years is how you get there. The opportunity to work for a tech company in Cleveland is great, but isn't worth sacrificing your personal life and sanity for "the sake of business".
