- The title of the review is one of Axiom's major cons. Everything is and will be SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Promises are not kept and you won't know what your career trajectory will be because there isn't one at Axiom, that is, unless you want to be a seller. And even then, you'll likely sit at your given title for years before you get a promotion. That being said, if you look externally and get an offer, 9 times out of 10, Axiom will be more than happy to give you a promotion or bump in pay. Because here at Axiom, the precedent is you need to prove your worth in order to move up the corporate ladder, or you can just apply externally and threaten to leave and you'll receive titles and compensation in exchange for staying.
- Politics. Every company has them. At Axiom, it's worse than most companies. If you don't have the favor of someone senior in the company, good luck getting anywhere at Axiom. Those that do win the favor or praise of their managers/colleagues can expect to have the light shined on constantly them and a much more pleasant career experience. This ultimately promotes a toxic workplace culture where everyone tries to have the light shined on them by basically just doing their job. This leaves those who actually go above and beyond in the dust because everyone is inundated with slack posts to the effect of "congratulations to (insert name here) on (insert something the person did based on their job description), where would we be without you". It’s all just a big popularity contest, if you're into that sort of thing then this would be a pro for you and you will thrive at Axiom.
- Poor communication. Similar to the headline, Subject to change, Axiom suffers from abysmal communication, specifically from leadership. Mid-Managers have no idea what's going on and senior leaders can't commit on a clear path forward. The result is analysts, associates, and even managers looking at each other and not having the faintest clue on changes to the company, expectations on next steps career wise, or just knowing what’s actually happening within the organization. This is probably a cultural issue at Axiom given that it's been an issue for a number of years and there has been no improvement. If anything, miss-communication/poor communication from leadership has gotten worse.
- Play the blame game. It's incredibly disheartening to see leaders play the blame game with each other. No one wants to take responsibility for their poor communication or objectively bad decision making choices. The result is leaders not being held accountable, effectively ensuring that these same issues persist time and time again. There is a feedback program Axiom institutes called 360 feedback, which should be a tool used by everyone to provide constructive feedback and ways for individuals to improve. In reality, HR and the managers that see this feedback have shown that they care little to what anyone has to say. There was even an instance where someone received some poor feedback during their 360 review and proceeded to joke about it while out in the office. Evidently this review process only applies to those lower on the totem pole, managers and leaders are above that sort of thing. I can go on and on but I'll leave it off with one more con.
-Inconsistent treatment/expectations. As mentioned before, for those who have the support of their managers and colleagues, there are countless opportunities for them at Axiom. Anyone else will most likely need to self advocate, which is ultimately an uphill battle. This leads to inconsistent treatment and expectations. There are some folks who struggled to hit their goals and Axiom's response was to fire them. Meanwhile, others who also struggled to hit their goals were given opportunities to advance their careers instead of being terminated, whether it be because of their managers good graces or because the individual had an external offer and would threaten to leave. In either case, there is an inconsistency with treating direct reports that are on the same team. This applies to those who are up for promotion or pay increases as well. Some will need to jump through hoops in order to get what they want, while others need only ask, or in some cases, demand. It's borderline favoritism.
