Toxic Culture That Doesn't Adhere to its Own Values
Pros
The Store Support Center is a nice environment to work in.
Cons
The culture at the Home Depot is toxic. The company Values emphasize building strong relationships, showing respect for others, entrepreneurial spirit, and other things that sound great. There's an inverted pyramid that puts the associate first and the CEO last. These are nice decorations, but the company doesn't even pretend to try to live up to these values. There's an unhealthy obsession with rank and title at THD. Merchants are revered and feared; many pitch temper tantrums and scream and yell to get what they want. Vice Presidents and above are treated as if they are gods, and lower associates really aren't supposed to be talking with them. My director would frequently arrive late to meetings and announce that she had been meeting with this RVP or that MVP or was in a meeting where the CFO was speaking, as if there wasn't a need to be courteous to her team as long as she was doing Important Things with Important People. I'm a person that likes to find new ways to do things, to improve upon old processes and make them better, faster, or more accurate. Entrepreneurial Spirit as a value appealed to me when I started. I quickly found out however, that every single suggestion I could make was unwanted and unappreciated. The entire company uses the same PowerPoint background, for crying out loud, and any deviations from this are forbidden. If you can't tolerate a different background on the screen, how much are you really embracing Entrepreneurial Spirit? When I was hired, I was told that the company does a horrible job of training. This was true. There are no documented processes, and in fact not even a single sheet of paper that tells the person training you what to train on. It's a hit or miss process, yet they seem to be proud of this. In fact, after I'd been there several months, I discovered I was doing something wrong. I confessed this to my manager, and he was surprised ... he had been doing things the same way. When I explained why it was wrong and described the right way to do it, he said "That makes more sense." If the leadership can't even refer to a printed process to make sure they are training their people correctly or to audit the work that's being done, then they have little control. Where I work, five associates have been the HR to complain about the treatment they receive from our Director. Three have been out with stress related illness. Others have taken demotions to get away from this one leader. And yet still, the company allows that Director to use up and dispose of people in a constant churn. One coworker, who quit after just a few months, told me "I've never worked so hard for a job I hate so much. I'm afraid to even go to the bathroom for fear I'll miss a deadline." A number of coworkers express frustration. Many have said they are hoping Amazon will open an office nearby. Several have told me that they are looking for work elsewhere. The company culture simply chews up people and spits them out, only to move on to the next body to fill a seat.
