Incompetent Leadership and Politics Destroys Engineering Culture - Associate Software Developer GIC Employee Review

1.0
Jul 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is market rate, people are generally nice.

Cons

I recently quit as software engineer here because of the internal politics and messy structure. the company has good mission and talented engineers, but day-to-day is ruined by bad leadership decisions. Executives keep pushing for chaotic short term reorganizations just to look good. Instead of helping us deliver, management burdens teams with heavy security and risk bureaucracy that slows down everything, while expecting us to work at 200% capacity Promotion is also not merit-based. career growth depends on visibility and being in the department head's inner circle, not technical skill. If you are mid-career or converted contract staff, it's a steep uphill battle. Lately there is also constant fear of being pushed out through aggressive performance grading and mass PIPs used to cut headcount. When we give honest feedback about burnout, townhalls are heavily curated to ignore it. Supporting functions are completely hollowed out too. BMO, PMO, and Change Management are understaffed and act like message-passers who can't explain their own processes. Tech HR also gives zero strategic value or empathy. They dont protect workers or follow proper due process, they just act as a tool to execute management directives. The engineering talent here is real but until incoming leadership rewards actual capability instead of favoritism, the mass exodus will continue.

Explore other reviews about GIC

5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company to work for. They pay above fairly, people are friendly and benefits / employee life - work balance is amazing.

Cons

No cons.No cons. no Cons.

1.0
Jul 6, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good vision, good talent (under bad management), market rate compensation

Cons

​Incompetent Leadership: Constant, chaotic reorganizations driven by new senior leads looking for short-term wins rather than sustainable engineering. ​Tone-Deaf Management: Townhalls are heavily curated to ignore genuine feedback regarding burnout and management debt. ​The "Silent Layoff" Strategy: Mass PIPs and aggressive performance grading are being used to quietly trim headcount, destroying team morale. ​Inefficient Ecosystem: Paralyzing security and risk processes block execution at every turn, while engineering teams are expected to run at 200%+ capacity. ​Inefficient HR: A heavy layer of senior HR personnel who offer zero practical guidance, zero empathy, and zero worker protection.

9
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