Come for the job title, stay for the gaslighting
Pros
Excellent environment if you enjoy watching underqualified people climb over qualified ones—like a slow-motion soap opera with lab coats. You’ll develop thick skin, a quiet eye-roll reflex, and possibly a strong interest in Stoic philosophy. Some colleagues are genuine and hardworking—often in spite of, not because of, the culture. A great training ground if you aspire to join corporate politics or the Witness Protection Program—because your contributions will be completely invisible.
Cons
HR acts fast—when it comes to protecting themselves. Want empathy? Try Chat GPT. Raise a valid concern? Prepare for theatre-level overreaction, gaslighting and procedural drama. Recognition is political. Those who quietly conform or befriend the right people move up. Others—regardless of output, leadership, or contribution—are sidelined, ignored, or managed out. Management is absent where it matters. Leadership is mostly focused on deliverables and metrics, with little understanding of team dynamics or personal investment in employee wellbeing. Leaving? Expect the warmth of a transaction at a self-checkout machine.No interest in why good people leave, no curiosity about the damage done. Even long-term contributors exit quietly, without acknowledgement. Culture discourages courage. If you value fairness, honesty, or ambition, prepare to be disillusioned. The louder the rhetoric about values, the more disconnected it is from daily reality. Leadership motto appears to be: “If we don’t talk about it, it didn’t happen.”
