smart, hardworking funny people at the junior level, but toxic leadership and massive favoritism
Pros
Getting to work with some very smart, hardworking and funny people every day, even if the work itself was not great fun. Benefits package is good, and flexible life/work balance. You get a yearly bonus (if you're entitled to one that is).
Cons
Leadership at the senior director level in a particular team is doing a terrible job as head of this team, these two seem they're just looking out for each other, while a couple of mid-level supervisors within the team are saving face for them and literally are the ones leading the whole team, but without the big title and big pay. Those who constantly bring up this cycle of dysfunction with others in cross-functional teams where nothing ever improves, get labeled as defensive and straight up get alienated. There's a lot of lip service, but no action. Plenty of double face behaviors and toxicity. These leaders will go to great lengths to make sure deadlines are met when sh*t is about to hit the fan, yet you barely hear from them on a weekly basis. There's no sense of community and plenty of favoritism and clics. There are people who were hired basically because they're "family friends" of higher ups, who get away with doing mediocre work and even get promoted for it, while someone else doing a good job might take 2-3 years to get a merit promotion. The annual employee performance review is a joke, and so is some of the technology they use. If you're a POC, good luck moving up the ladder. If this ever happens is greatly dependent on what team you're with, how much bu*t kissing you're willing to do or who you know. There are some quite incompetent people managing whole teams. Then you also have some people who might have the best intentions but with this bad concept about efficiency, time management and productivity, who love to micromanage when they're not even direct supervisors to you. They choose to work crazy hours and glamorize working themselves to the bone. People with no backbone as managers and more concerned with keeping friendships than improving these toxic dynamics at the lower level, create a massive burden on the whole team. Complacency at the top causes a lot of frustration for the rest at the junior level. There's a lot of non-work-related conversations during work calls. If you chose not to engage in these, you're labeled as antisocial. A lot of very passive aggressive behaviors. If you get vocal about the professional disconnect among teams, bring up issues and call out some obvious offenders, you're labeled as confrontational (but if you're white and male, you're being proactive) Being vocal will translate to not being included in certain meetings or conversations. You will have your character attacked in subtle ways by some people claiming political correctness, trying to make you feel inadequate about the way you choose to conduct yourself. The everyday interactions between and within teams is very toxic and it is truly a shame, because there's some very smart, hardworking people in this company. But the sad reality of the times we live in is that some people can't financially afford to just quit and leave such a hostile working environment.
