- Below Market Base Pay (To offset substantial benefits package)
- Targets hiring fresh graduates for potential versus perfect fit, but then lacks the training programs and has an unrealistic standard of performance with little to no support (Big, figure it out yourself energy, with little to no publications on standard operating procedures for each job description or tasks)
- Touts equality and diversity however does not take a firm stance publicly on diversity, equity, and inclusion
- If you identify as a woman, or craft worker (hourly), there’s is no wage equity or transparency, they will not provide a scale on how they value your individual skills and assets
- Performance reviews are very “meets expectations” or “does not meet expectations” so if you are looking for a quantifiable answer, you will be disappointed, leading to reviews that are entirely subjective from your supervisor’s perspective on the perception of your performance and maybe not on what is actually completed in a 10 hour work day.
- Maternity leave is 12 weeks paid, however there is no standard for paid paternity leave. New fathers are having to leave their partners just a week or at most two after a Caesarian or traumatic birth often feeling the pressure from their supervisor or teammates to return quickly because there is no substantial coverage or plan for dad even though their partner has been pregnant for 9 months.
- Once a new mother has returned from maternity leave, she can expect lactation rooms, but then expect a desk and monitor in the room… leaving the expectation that one should pump and work at the same time. Vice presidents have asked their admin assistants to watch employees and time their pumping durations down to the minute. A very stressful situation for any mother who is already struggling to produce enough milk for her child while working. One site lactation room was a locked shed, outside in the Texas heat, no proper ventilation, no power run to it for energy to plug a pump up to, and no one even knew the door code to get into it. Very careless afterthought of an attempt to fulfill a “checkbox” of a lactation room that was not a restroom. Employee chose to pump in their own office instead but what about craft working women in the field? Where is their equity in this lactation space?
- This is a real conversation had by a Vice President to a postpartum mother of 1 year who stated she was struggling with suicidal ideations and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. “Look I won’t pretend to know exactly what you’re going through, my wife stays at home for the kids. But we’re all parents. (He himself has 4 children but afforded to have his partner be a stay at home mother his entire executive career) see how the rest of us are figuring it out? Completely invalidating the employee’s experiences, not offering any support/ plan to assist, leaving the entire burden of performance, mental health, and “time management” on the woman’s shoulders who is already, working full time, juggling a 1 year old and newborn, and just surviving. This type of perspective does not account for the fact that every family is different and that the salary disparity has the potential to affect the woman’s own reality. Not to mention the lack of empathy and compassion as a stance from a company that will say they are “family first”. It also refuses to acknowledge that the system is broken. That the workforce is operating on a model that was designed for men to succeed and for mothers to fail. A rigid expectation of arrival times and departure times regardless of who is the primary caregiver of children in the household and that daycares and school often end well before the expected departure times of employees. Also that illness from daycare or doctor’s appointments will affect how the woman can be physically at the office and working from home is only afforded to the employees that have executive favor to make up for those times of child illness or school holiday days or appointment times. To which they will say, “we pay you for a certain number of hours worked and that’s what we expect” however will overlook if the employee is capable of completing all tasks well before the 8 hour day and when the employee asks for more tasks the answer is often, “no I don’t need anything additional at this time”. Would the response to this type of employee be offering more responsibility in the form of a promotion or in developing their journey into middle leadership? Not if they prefer that you do well at your current position.
- When a mother asked to be considered for a more challenging role, the request was not taken seriously. Instead the executives hired an outside hire, with no industry specific experience, who was simply a male and older, to fulfill the position. The response to the employee who requested an opportunity to be considered for growth, they’ll response was “yeah we can set a time to talk about that” that was never taken seriously. A leader never said “tell me more about that” let’s work together on how we can make your desire to grow and become more influential on the team a reality by this date and time. Here are some things I would like you to work on a develop in the meantime.
My advice to young professionals. WT’s marketing is very targeted. Designed to make the audience believe they are wholesome, family oriented, and kind. The truth is, the marketing is very good and it works! They hire fresh faces in the dozens every year. But after a year to five years their middle management bottoms out and is looking for new career opportunities even though they have great pay and benefits. What does that tell you? WT is a machine looking for cogs to turn the revenue wheel with utter disregard to the individual and human experience. This model will guarantee to leave an employee questioning their worth and abilities. When the truth is, the ultimate goal is to keep the revenue machine going and everyone is dispensable. Avoid, avoid avoid WT at all costs or the trauma, emotional damage, and years lost will leave one with a substantial therapy bill.
