I will speak from my own experience but for context, I was laid off this year in February. I decided to not write a glassdoor review at that point in time-- my round of layoffs were done hastily and were, in my opinion, handled quite poorly, but I just assumed this was an outlier experience. Even reading the not so stunning reviews on here, I assumed most negative comments were from very disgruntled employees, and I wanted to give Peak 6 the benefit of the doubt. That being said, after the most recent round of layoffs in September, it's clear my experience was not an outlier. Here are my red flags/tips for prospective employees: 1) Most managers will look at you sideways if you're not pursuing 3-5 side projects at a time OUTSIDE OF your normal work responsibilities. If you are not an overachiever willing to work 2+ hours a day outside normal hours, you likely won't be seen as a satisfactory employee. 2) Avoid taking anything management says at face value. If you are not propelled onto a trading team within your first 2 years, your job is on the line, plain and simple. Managers never allude to this clear fact, instead choosing to spout truisms about how having time to manage your own portfolio and experiment is vital to your career…..but guess who are the first people to be laid off? At best, it’s terrible communication and hasty decision-making made by upper-management, who then spring the news of layoffs onto lower level managers who are powerless to give their opinions and vouch for their employees who are at this, quote, “important” stage in their trading development. At worst? It’s willful miscommunication and manipulation on management’s part, hoping to squeeze out all of your energy and effort into working more, in fear that you’ll be laid off next. 3) Change happens at a disorienting level. The firm probably describes it as “dynamic adaptability” or some other corporate BS, but the reality is that management doesn’t know what they’re doing and are just throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks. This is, of course, always to the detriment of employees’ precious time and energy. Teams are made and dissolved within months. Projects will be abandoned in the middle and never mentioned again. Management is constantly shuffling and structurally reorganizing for no clear reason.
