Toxicity overshadows exemplary grit - Anonymous employee Arsenal Biosciences Employee Review

1. There’s a real imbalance in resourcing between teams. Allocation is very much based on how well that team’s director can navigate the social arena. Directors here are superfluous and are especially inexperienced in management and industry. The urgency of a team’s growth is consistently quelled with instant gratification where we need more hands on bench rather than a more thoughtful approach on strategic growth, focusing on actual gaps with stronger hires. 2. Distrust between teams and sometimes within teams. Teams are not willing to share data with each other. Many say they love collaboration but their actions say stay in your lane. Input isn’t usually taken well, especially on robustness of data. 3. Egos are intense yet fragile. Elitism is rampant and perpetuated by what school you went to, whose lab you worked in, how many hours you work, etc. Having the right social title is a significant component to your happiness here. 4. We’ve grown substantially in the past few months. I had hoped it would dilute the negative parts of our culture. Gossip is never-ending and there are truly toxic people here who care more about their reputation — often at the expense of their direct reports or peers — than the exciting work we are more than equipped to accomplish. 5. Brand management is huge here. On all levels, our company carefully curates its image internally and externally by managing sensitive internal narratives and removing negative Glassdoor reviews, whether or not it was helpful or obviously written in anger, which may already say something on its own.