Sweatshop BRIMMING with Office Politics - Mechanical Design Engineer Firefly Aerospace Employee Review

I was very enthusiastic to begin working here - however after the first week, it became evident that this environment is toxic. Being a small startup, I expected there to be some level of camaraderie and commonality that unified the employees toward achieving the audacious goal of building a rocket. However, what I realized is that the environment was extremely cut-throat and toxic. People are constantly flowing in and out of this place, and as a result, there is no sense of job security. This lack of job security fosters a toxic work environment that feeds a particularly vicious game of office politics. Rather than focusing on the grand goal of building a rocket, people find themselves pulled into arguments that deal with issues as trivial as their attire or personal, non work-related conflicts with other employees. At this point, any reason to kick someone off the island is considered legitimate. It becomes quickly evident that in order to survive in this workplace, you had better sell your soul to the company and forget about work life balance, because the average person here works 60 to 70 hours a week. Of course, this is in part due to being a small startup with devoted employees who believe in the company's mission. However, it is so ingrained in the work culture that it essentially becomes a work policy-- those who don't dedicate 15 hours a day to their work are quickly thrown overboard. Finally, the HR department is one of the most flawed I have ever seen. This department of one - yes one person (it's a small company, remember?) essentially possesses the power to hire and fire employees without consultation of any of the managers or legitimate reason. Since HR consists of one person, there is no system of checks and balances to limit or check HR's decisions. The one-person HR department has the ability to unilaterally make decisions based on its own personal judgements. This can be particularly dangerous when HR conspires to plot the fate of who it deems unfavorable employees. This job would probably work for someone with a competitive and cut-throat spirit , who is adept at the scheme of office politics. -