--RTO: As visible in other reviews, everyone hates the RTO policy. We were assured that working remotely would be permanent, until the new CEO gave the company a single month’s notice that we would be expected in-office 3 days per week. There was a huge outcry from the employees, and this decision made a ton of employees completely lose trust in leadership. The CEO never addressed the company outside of the initial RTO email and to reprimand us to “be respectful”, as many took to our in-company social media to provide legitimate reasons as to why it was a bad idea, and let lower-level management deal with it. As “employee-owners”, it’s awful knowing that leadership doesn’t care what we think. We have also recently learned that they are now implementing a Bluetooth tracking chip attached to our badges that will report to HR where we are within 10ft of accuracy. They claim it’s for “emergency services”, but we all know that it isn’t. Accommodation requests are also being denied, even for extreme medical reasons, and many are being forced to quit because of it. For a company that preaches psychological safety, it constantly astounds me how corporate doesn’t seem to care about how mistrustful and tense of a work place they’ve created, and how much strain they’ve put on such a large part of their workforce. When implemented, the CEO used the example of “well, Disney is back 5-days per week, so it could be worse!” Early on after RTO was announced and middle-management was holding townhalls, when asked “what about the many members of the workforce who will leave because of this decision”, it was responded casually that they weren’t worried about it as they could just outsource the work if needed. They also kept saying that “young professionals overwhelmingly want to be in-office!” when every single young-professional I knew was also against the policy.
I’ve been coming into the office since February 2022 as mandated, and I can count on one hand the amount of project meetings that I’ve had in-person in a conference room. 99% of my meetings still take place on a call on Teams, except now I’m risking getting sick in the incredibly uncomfortable office, as people still show up to the office sick in fear of getting reprimanded for not adhering to the RTO policy, instead of in my ergonomic at-home setup.
--Promotions: It is incredibly difficult to get promotions. The system works where there are internal levels, Position 001 – 010. They make it impossible to get to 010. I know people who have been at the company for decades and are the top performers in their departments, and they’ve been stuck at 007 for years with no sign of advancement. For earlier promotions in the 001 – 004 range, management doesn’t care about performance, only time spent with the company, even going as far as to admit that you’re performing at the level ahead, but it’s “too soon” to move you up, regardless of above-average performance reviews or peer/supervisor commendations. Supervisors and department heads have zero influence over bonuses and raises, and it’s all dictated by people who don’t interact with the people they’re promoting/dictating bonuses/raises for.
--Bonuses: You don’t get an actual yearly bonus until you hit level 004 of your position.
--Diversity: There was a huge spike in DEI training post George Floyd in 2020, guest lectures brought in, resources for people who wanted to know more, etc. That has completely fizzled out as of 2024, and the respective ERGs now have to do all of the leg work themselves. The business line I work in is also incredibly non-diverse.
