TOXIC Work Culture with 3rd World Countries used as Cheap Labor
Pros
Higher salaries than South African companies as you working for an international company and earning in dollars. Learning resources you can make use of outside of your 9 hour work days. Hybrid work schedule after 2 years. International medical aid. Centrally located office. FXFest every 2 years for international teams to travel to the US for a week.
Cons
South Africans work 9 hour days (this is NOT including a lunch or breaks) and till late in evenings. Everything you do is recorded and tracked on your screen. All social and "team building" events, if any, are held outside of working hours. TOXIC work culture. They have tried to emulate the American work culture in South Africa which is tone deaf and not relavant to the South African culture or what we are used to. It is NOT normal to have staff alongside you fired a week before Christmas and for no one to speak a word of it again. It is not normal for people to have little to no interaction with other humans and just sit glued to a screen for hours. In the time I have been on the team I have watched 7 Cape Town employees be let go with little to no explanation, they are called in to the office and walk out the same day. Payouts and NDAs included. The remaining team get an email full of fluff and no one addresses it or speaks of it ever again - it is said to be performance based that of which they find out on the day of being let go. If you are willing to speak in an American accent, lie about others and your feelings, be POSITIVE, totally devote yourself to work and cozy up to management you will advance and get free trips. Otherwise you get annual title changes with a 2-5% increase attributed to the company not meeting goals but the US team gets all expenses paid trips to Mexico. Alternatively if you are willing to be a robot and work crazy hours with little to no human interaction this is perfect for you! Only the voice of 1 person close to management is listened to and taken into consideration. Stories are fed to the team of everyone being happy but this could not be more further from the truth. Everyone in the office is too afraid to talk to anyone or say anything. You have a coach - this dynamic is set up like a teacher student relationship where you touch base regularly to keep tabs on you and find out information about your personal life and keep tabs on what you are working on. HR employed in the company office as guise that someone is there to speak to but their hands are tied, the most HR can do for you is order better snacks in the office. South Africans and teams from the Philippines are hired as cheap labour, labelled as having a diverse and international team.