The pay for many positions is laughably low for the industry and the wage disparity between departments is staggering. This is not a place where tenure will pay off - people are often brought on at higher salaries than existing employees, but the pay remains stagnant once you are onboarded. Favoritism is apparent and will present itself in the typical ways - easier and lower stress tasks are given to the chosen few in the department, while those who may bring up problems are likely to be saddled with more actual work and have more disciplinary action taken against them. Opportunities are offered to certain individuals while the careers of others remain at a standstill. The differences in treatment give every appearance of being based on the personal biases of the people making decisions. There is an obvious lack of accountability within and between departments.
Most members of the SLT are great, however some make it extremely apparent that the employee’s voice does not matter. “If you don’t like how things are happening here, then leave” has been said at multiple departmental meetings. “How many of you are forced to be here?” (Of course, this is when business is okay. When it isn’t, they will spend departmental meetings basically begging for or guilting employees to do unpaid work, not for their wages but because it is “the right thing to do.“) Some members of management are inefficient and unresponsive to concerns, which directly led to the fostering and development of an unnecessarily stressful workplace.
Work-life balance is impossible and actively discouraged at times. The words “sure you *could* just come here and work your hours and go home, but that isn’t how you will get ahead” have been said at meetings. This has proven true. Hard work is often unrecognized and not rewarded, unless it comes hand in hand with a willingness to allow the repeated breach of professional boundaries and acceptance of whatever SLT/management says as gospel, no matter how removed they are from the actual work.
This is certainly a place to get your foot in the start up door, but there are others. A piece of advice to incoming employees: have an exit strategy and a timeline. In this case, the whole is so much less than the sum of its parts.
