Put your reading hat and seatbelt on...
I was so excited when I started working for this company. I loved that it was a female CEO, diversity within the executive team, helping others, etc.
However, I quickly learned a few things:
- Starting off, over 10% of us were laid off in June, so importance of "psychological safety" and comments of, "we will not be laying anyone off" - you DO NOT make those kinds of comments in company all hands
meetings, and then let over 90 people go out of nowhere.
- Several of us who were let go, our managers didn't even know it was happening, until after we lost access to computers - that is horrible & says a lot about whoever made this decision (assuming CEO & financial advisors), that the input of the leadership team is not valued and does not matter. Additionally, CEO held a meeting shortly after (within the next couple days), and it was said that "HR knew that it was coming for about a week - but SEVERAL people from HR (including leaders) did not know and were blindsided. I have friends still there who shared this.
- It was clear that they did not know how to handle a company merge. When I asked for help around things, no one knew answers, who or where I should go to for answers, etc. My manager did their best to help where they could but...
- Working cross-functionally with other teams, while could be so fun, was brutal. Getting any information or what was needed to accomplish projects, so difficult to do.
- There are managers in high leadership positions who have NO business being in them. I cannot tell you how many meetings I had with a "leader" who had no idea to answers for some pretty serious matters. I'd always get "well hop on a call and ask _____" - there was no reason for 4 people to be on a call to get answers around things that our department leader should know.
- I wish they invested more in/cared more about DE&I. The leader leading the charge on that has SO much to offer, but I sometimes wonder if she is held back on ideas or initiatives.
