The extremely fast growth of the company has led to an unbalanced and increasingly political structure in several teams. Leadership decisions often do not reflect the actual impact, workload, or value employees bring. Instead, promotions and development opportunities tend to favor those with close personal relationships to leadership.
The removal of structured yearly performance evaluations has made the system even more subjective, as managers now decide individually how to assess and reward employees. Raising concerns about fairness can unfortunately lead to retaliation.
Internal mobility is also heavily restricted. When employees apply for roles in other teams, hiring managers often contact the current manager immediately, which is perceived as disloyalty by current managers. This often results in negative consequences for the employee, including subtle pressure to leave the team. HR is aware of these issues but seems overwhelmed or unable to intervene effectively. The Works Council typically advises to take legal action only if employees have strong evidence. Compliance acknowledges the problems but cannot guarantee protection from further retaliation if a compliance investigation is requested.
Some managers use behaviors that could be perceived as mobbing, and these situations are often framed as “necessary for the company’s growth.” This creates an environment where removing employees who claims fair treatment becomes an easier path than addressing structural issues.
BioNTech was once a place where collaboration, hard work, and fairness were core values. Many employees contributed far beyond expectations because they believed in the mission and felt recognized. Unfortunately, much of this has been lost in the push to rapidly build a corporate structure.
Of note, HR will respond to this review asking for more details, but revealing the identity internally would surely expose the reviewer to further retaliation — which is exactly why many employees choose to stay silent.
