Unfortunately the CEO has created a toxic culture of fear and competitiveness. Within a few months of the start of his tenure in 2017, he laid off ~10% of the staff in the most callous manner possible. The entire staff was forced to wear “SHRM” branded shirts to work and listen to a lengthy presentation of his plans for the company over a catered lunch, during which he expressed that some people didn’t fit into his vision for the future. Later that afternoon, those who “didn’t fit” were called into their managers’ offices and let go.
That set the tone for an environment characterized by continual layoffs and firings, along with a “take it or leave it” attitude in which Johnny openly encourages anyone who disagrees with his leadership style to leave the organization. Sadly, many talented employees do just that, as evidenced by the consistently high employee turnover rate.
During my time at SHRM, Johnny frequently made insensitive remarks publicly, including joking at all-hands meetings about how he was arranging his desk far from his guest chairs so that no one could accuse him of harassment and snickering about workers who he found to be too quiet and not appropriately fawning. (Because he’s an opportunist, he assumes others are as well. Because he’s a narcissist, he can’t understand that people who don’t share his communication style can have something valuable to contribute.)
Many of the things Johnny did struck me as ethically dubious. He routinely hired his friends for key roles and tried to bully managers into hiring his contacts as well--often for roles they were wholly unqualified for. This is an organization that represents the HR profession; yet within a year he had gutted his own HR department, many members of whom had decades of experience and the trust of the staff. His embrace of the Trump administration makes a lot of sense given the similarities between them.
I hope people take the time to read the full breadth of reviews and think critically about what they’re seeing. Isn’t it odd that the reviews are polarized between five stars (Amazing! Best employer of my life!) and one star (toxic dump, dysfunctional), with little in between? Do the positive reviews come across as authentic comments from real, non-coaxed human beings?
I’ve worked in many organizations. I know no workplace is perfect, and that all have their fair share of dysfunction. This goes beyond that. I took a great deal of pride in my role at SHRM. As was the case with many others, it pained me to leave. The human toll that Johnny’s tenure at SHRM has taken is enormous. And the exit of so many good workers is truly his loss.
