Toxic - Software Engineer Improving Employee Review

1.0
21 Aug 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some dedicated and talented individuals at the peer level who try to support each other. The company is in a technically challenging industry, which makes the role seem promising. The compensation and benefits were technically competitive on paper.

Cons

I strongly advise any prospective employee to seriously reconsider joining. My time here was defined by a profoundly toxic work culture that led to widespread burnout and anxiety. The core issues are systemic and start at the top: Leadership & Management: Senior leadership is completely disconnected from the day-to-day reality of employees. Middle managers are micromanaging, dismissive of concerns, and play clear favorites. Feedback is not welcomed and is often met with defensiveness or retaliation. Decisions are made opaquely and change without warning, creating constant chaos. Work-Life Balance: Non-existent. The expectation to be "always on" is implicit but strongly enforced. Late-night emails, weekend work, and last-minute "fire drills" are the norm, not the exception. Culture of Fear & Favoritism: Psychological safety is zero. Employees are publicly blamed for mistakes (often caused by poor leadership decisions), creating an environment of fear where people are afraid to take initiative or speak up. Gaslighting & Dishonesty: During team meetings, genuine concerns about culture are dismissed as "not being a team player" or "not being able to handle a fast-paced environment." The company promotes values like "Wellness" and "Respect" externally, but internally, those are empty slogans.

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Improving Response
9mo
Thanks for putting together your experience of work with us. You've obviously had a negative experience that has gone on unvalidated and we wanted to let you know you are heard. This isn't a response written by AI - our People & Culture leaders read, contemplated, discussed with leadership, and put together this response. We greatly value the human-human connection and so we invite you to reach out to our People & Culture leaders so your concerns may be properly heard. That said, we have also logged your concerns and are taking action: -As you suggested, we will be raising these concerns with our managers and giving them opportunities to grow and develop as leaders of our culture -We're reviewing and reassessing workload management across our project teams and overall organization -Doubling down on our cultural principles of transparency and trust by creating private voluntary small-group "Trust Pods" where people can speak on these issues within the framework of building trust For those considering joining us, besides platforms like glassdoor, youtube and linkedin, interviews are another opportunity we take to be as transparent as possible with future work-family members. During these discussions, candidates are welcomed to discuss in 1:1 conversations with our team members about leadership, work-life balance, culture, as well as the cutting edge technology and projects you'll be working on

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Pros

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