On my last day, my manager shook my hand and wished me luck with my future endeavors. He even said “I wish things could have worked out for you here” which I responded to with a coy smile and a fake nod. Problem is, if I rewound the reel of my experience here, every few seconds I would be able to pick out scenes that repeatedly demonstrated that my management…nor this company…nor HR…gave a damn about my existence until my horror movie was about to end and they realized that I was the one with the power. Starting from taking a paycut from my previous job in return for the “$30 per share” that recruiting happily advertised, to being burned out and taking involuntary compensation decreases every time the stock price fell 40%, to being left to fend off the post-merger mess on my own…there was nothing that indicated I was valued here with the exceptions of my close colleagues who I am now following to a better company :) and the one promo I got right before I quit which really came in handy when talking with the recruiters. This was a company filled with management that took advantage of us because they assumed they could…and continued to do so every year while lining their own deep pockets. At least karma is catching up to them.
So much lip service from the top tiers over employee retention but the irony was that it got worse for us every time those lines came out of their mouths. Making things worse were the HR meetings with managers…basically around how to twist the facts and numbers and practically lie to employees. I stopped working more than 3 hours a day because this company needs its key employees more than it cares to admit. More stable than a government job and if you get fired with severance then lucky you. If you work over 6 hours per day you will likely find a spot reserved for you in CLDR heaven. Management and the director and higher levels overestimated their power to keep key employees…but it’s not that surprising given their overestimation of their own abilities.
Everythings all about perception at this point…both external and internal…and a lot of money is being flung out the window on propaganda if it's not lining management's pockets. Like another review said, just look at the new logo. Wasn’t exactly donated by a branding agency to this company. Somehow marketing was able to get budget for A) new branding resembling Starburst that someone accidentally squashed on Halloween and B) post merger global offsite where everyone in the org was flown to HQ to bond. It’s rather obvious which execs are chummy with the (soon-to-be ex) CEO and get to spend the most money. My org got none of that because unlike the CMO we had a stingy leader up at the top…and when I quit…I still didn’t know who half the people on the team were because the merger was done in such a rush that we were pretty much working with people we didn’t know or have an opportunity to trust. So sad to see money flushed down the toilet while no resources were given to the people keeping the lights on. Most of the money in our org was wasted on clueless consultants for system integration who are notorious for serving as expensive meeting-schedulers and notetakers and getting in the way of the employees...what an expensive, trashy mess. At one point after the merger, I couldn’t even submit an expense report for reimbursement because of a system error…finance blamed HR for having an incorrect manager in Workday, HR blamed someone for not submitting correct manager information in WD…and there I was, just wanting to be paid.
The most recent example of their obsession over controlling internal perception was a hasty email announcing a new HR chief…but nothing saying that the new HR leader quit after a week at this mess. Irony is that there is now a vicious cycle where everything affecting the employee population is done with secrecy nowadays because they are so concerned about how employees will perceive changes...and then employees in turn start trusting HR and managers even less.
