You may wonder why I'm weighing in now, a few years after my departure.
The answer is simple: I waited, naively believing the situation couldn't deteriorate further. I was wrong. Thanks to colleagues still weathering the storm inside, I've had a front-row seat to what can only be described as a slow-motion organizational collapse — marked by an exodus of talent so significant it would be comical if it weren't so telling.
So allow me to finally say what I should have said sooner.
This organization is a masterclass in top-heavy dysfunction. The C-suite expands like a well-funded balloon while the people actually keeping the lights on (the "support" staff) shoulder the workload of entire departments. Somehow, there's never budget for meaningful raises for the people doing the work, yet the company finds endless reserves to mint new director-level titles and corner offices. The math, as they say, is not mathing.
Recognition? Don't hold your breath. Loyalty is neither rewarded nor particularly noticed here. Fresh college graduates with sparkling résumés and zero real-world experience are routinely brought on at compensation levels that would make your ten-year veteran colleagues quietly update their LinkedIn profiles, which, incidentally, many of them have.
The workload situation borders on the absurd. Employees are routinely expected to perform the functions of two or three roles, yet the moment they log overtime to keep pace with those impossible demands, they're penalized for it. Let that irony sink in: you will be stretched beyond capacity and then reprimanded for the audacity of trying to meet expectations.
And if you're over 50? I'd encourage you to read the room (and perhaps consult an employment attorney). The pattern of PIPs and convenient layoffs targeting longer-tenured employees as retirement approaches is, let's say, notably consistent.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of all? In this economy, where financial uncertainty has most people clinging to their paychecks for dear life, long-tenured, high-performing employees are walking out the door without another job lined up. Let that sink in. People are choosing the anxiety of unemployment over another day in that environment. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about this company's culture, nothing will.
To anyone still there: the grass is genuinely greener. I say that not as a platitude but as someone standing on the other side of the fence.
To anyone being recruited: run. Not figuratively. Run.
