ION Group Reviews

ION. It really is that simple. Here's what will happen when ION take over your company: During the sale process they'll tell you how amazing you are. Once the sale goes through they'll leave it a month or two before telling you how wrong you all are and how terrible everything is. They'll lay out a roadmap that they say puts the customer first, and talk about how you will transition to their superior technology stack, but also how they can incorporate some of your working practices. You'll be told how the owner holds companies for life, and has deep pockets, so resources won't be a problem. They'll also tell you, because you'll ask, that all the negative Glassdoor reviews are either people in India or disgruntled graduates, or both. Then gradually, things will change. You may be transferred to another company in the group, then asked to sign an onerous deed of undertaking, with the implicit threat of termination if you don't sign it. Half of you won't sign it and ask for clarifications that you won't get. Half of you will sign it as you think it's unenforceable. HR will forget about it, and nothing more will be said. Projects and deadlines, or their favourite "fire drills", will spring up on the whim of the owner or C-suite. You'll be expected to work all hours, and weekends, to get things done. Some of these things will never be seen again. You, and your colleagues, will talk about how ION will have to adapt to your org, because they don't understand your market|company|culture (delete as applicable). Your previous org structure will be thrown out of the window, but without communication. Senior management will discuss how far they can push you without you breaking. Bullying will occur in meetings, and you'll chalk it off to a bad day until it becomes a regular occurrence. Bonuses will be held in stasis for months. Pay rises will become rarer. Personal development processes will become a thing of the past, despite promises from your HR department that an ION replacement program is coming. If you're a developer you'll be exposed to their superior technology stack. You'll raise an eyebrow that anyone could call this particular tech stack superior in this day and age. You, and your colleagues, will _still_ talk about how ION will have to adapt to your org, because you can't believe it's become this bad. Then people will start to leave. Either voluntarily, with or without another job, or they'll just disappear one day and appear as out of office. And then you'll be informed of the redundancies that happened weeks ago. Your department will be re-organised, but you won't hire replacements because the owner has to sign off on every hire. Some of you take on the responsibilities of those let go, but without title increases or pay rises. Some of your services will stop, and suppliers will complain bitterly, because bills haven't been paid. Turns out the owner needs to approve these too. Finally you'll realise that the Glassdoor reviews are true and that ION really doesn't care about it's employees – clients, then lenders, with staff a distant third… And then you'll start work on your CV, if you haven't already started.

It begins and ends with the leadership team. Andrea Pignataro (Group CEO) - driven, intelligent, inspiring. However, the culture he has cultivated in the organisation is one that does not embody TRUST. The focus on the bottom line and ignorance of the office culture is costing more than properly addressing matters. Delegation of responsibilities is lacking, little or no autonomy trickles down, and the leadership team emulate this behavior. Vivake Gupta (Group CAO) - rude, disingenuous, lacks focus, lacks moral fibre Luke Flemmer (divisional CEO) - arrogant bully, lacks leadership qualities, looks out for himself Silvio Oliviero (divisional CEO) - lacks leadership qualities including not setting an example, uninspiring, inattentive, indecisive Francesco Margini (divisional COO) - disingenuous, destructive flunky that manages up, lacks moral fibre, not popular on the street, ordinary example set to others