Equifax makes a huge amount of profit which goes straight into the pockets of its senior managers. Employees are warned they must do all they can to 'tighten their belts' so the business hits high profit margins but in the same breath will fly execs around the world (frequently) first class on business trips. You do not receive a bonus if you work at Equifax however; the CEO does and it only takes a quick Google to confirm the - not insignificant - bonus amount. "Chief Executive Officer at EQUIFAX INC, Mark W. Begor made $16,065,575 in total compensation. Of this total $1,500,000 was received as a salary, $3,600,000 was received as a bonus" - Employees struggle to heat their homes and are patronisingly told to forego any small celebration solely to ensure Mr Begor gets an even bigger bonus this year. Equifax uses archaic management techniques and refuses to consider alternatives such as nurturing its talent. - Performance improvement plans (that focus on plastering over the symptoms of an issue not addressing root cause) are used like they're going out of style on staff. PiPs mean you cannot progress in the business, do not qualify for an annual pay rise, do not receive sick pay and of course makes you very easy to sack. My first 6 months under a particular Sr manager whilst working remotely was incredibly positive however in January 2022 this changed as the manager left. I was overworked and as more staff left the business more responsibility was given to me - I usually embrace this (and did!) until I realised the business was simply refusing to backfill other roles to save money and then pushing the jobs of other departments onto the likes of myself. Simultaneously, I received less from my wage due to inflation and a return to office policy. Pay rises are capped at about 3% for the top performers at Equifax meaning that during the cost of living crisis, staff became increasingly worse off. I put a lot of my personal time and energy into my role and worked very hard to build genuine relationships with my team whilst building tools and frameworks to help them in their daily roles. The team were very compassionate and appreciative; it was a shame management never once acknowledged this. My own managers were unable to cope with my team. This meant that realistically, I was unable to take more than 1 week off as annual leave at any time and I would return to twice as much work and active fallout amongst managers and staff that became my responsibility to resolve. This made me feel incredibly burnt out, emotionally and physically drained. I spoke to my manager to state I was unhappy and needed a break. This manager told me (direct quote) "I get that you're burnt out but now isn't the time for coasting". This was very disappointing to hear and ultimately my performance began to suffer, I felt trapped. I was put on a performance improvement plan 2 weeks before the end of year meaning I had no time to contest the decision. My manager was remote and came to visit the week before but could not tell me this news in person (I was told how well I was doing, in fact). The PIP meant I could not qualify for a pay rise despite already seeing a huge reduction in my actual take home pay due to commuting, the cost of living crisis and an increase in daily responsibilities. On top of this, my managers stated that despite the PIP, I needed to continue with additional work outside of my actual role that was directly benefitting them. - They had so little faith in my abilities that they put me on a PIP, yet still expected me to continue with numerous side projects, without credit and now without any motivation or personal benefit (my managers were relying on it for their performance reviews). After advising management that I would not continue with my side projects, after handing in my resignation, I was gaslit; labelled "combative" and "difficult", which felt especially hurtful after giving them so much of the best of me. It became clear that I was not being respected and despite managers constantly wanting the skills and value that I bring to pass off as their own achievements, for their own professional gain. They did not want to give me the credit and subsequently I chose to leave the business. I was unable to continue working in an environment where the wellbeing of staff is of no interest to management. The 'if you're not happy then leave' Mantra is lazy and instills zero confidence that management have any interest into wellbeing and improving operational pipelines. After starting a job in a new company in the same role, it really exposed the issues within Equifax and I saw how fleetingly disrespectful this company is to staff.
