Great Mission but Poor Environment to Work In - Anonymous Arcadia Employee Review

Working here seems very exciting in the beginning - the office is very trendy, there's tons of free food, cold brew coffee, etc. However, the organization is poorly run. There is no sense of direction among teams, as well as a serious lack of real HR. Being a startup, most of the people hired are millennials who might overlook a lack of professional conduct when there are shiny things such as relaxation rooms and snack bars around. But eventually the HR function became very much needed, and things that were reported to HR were not kept in confidentiality or handled professionally. There is a ton of internal politics and voices often do not feel that they are being heard. I often felt as though my managers treated me and my ideas as if they were stupid, to the point where I was afraid to speak up. It stems from a true lack of leadership - many of the people holding leadership positions have had little to no leadership training and very little career experience outside of the company, and therefore, working there feels like a high school environment. It's really disappointing because the mission is so great, but it's hard to see Arcadia achieving true success with how things are run internally. It was a very stressful environment to work in due to all the drama. The pay was average, as were the healthcare benefits.