Cultural Decline and Leadership Disconnect - Data Engineer GIC Employee Review

Here is how those points flow naturally in plain prose: Cons / Challenges Employees frequently bring up a noticeable decline in psychological safety, pointing to anxiety around aggressive performance grading and performance improvement plans that feel driven by headcount targets rather than growth. This is compounded by a sense that upward feedback isn't truly welcome, with town hall questions feeling heavily filtered or brushed aside, which undermines trust in leadership. Operationally, heavy bureaucracy and deep organizational silos create major friction. A lack of technology consolidation and overlapping software tools slow everything down, while strict risk and security processes hamper delivery speed. On top of that, support departments like HR and PMO are often seen as top-down enforcement arms rather than partners who support staff. Work-life balance takes a hit as well. Ground-level employees frequently face extended hours driven by reactive, sudden deadlines and constant short-term restructurings, leading to a disconnect with senior leaders whose schedules don't reflect these execution realities. Finally, staff highlight an ambiguous overall strategy. Senior management is often seen as delegating strategic planning downward to team members without giving them the actual authority or backing needed to carry out real changes.