Compensation & Career Growth – Nonexistent:
In over 7 years of dedicated service with consistently excellent performance reviews, I received zero promotions and zero bonuses. Annual merit increases were a paltry 2%—failing to even match inflation, let alone reward exceptional work.
Despite taking on senior-level responsibilities, training multiple team members, and completing extensive professional development courses far beyond mandatory job requirements requirements, no advancement opportunities were ever offered.
My contributions to a major contract win—including proposal writing, editing, and review which went completely unrecognized and uncompensated, while others allegedly received bonuses for
similar work.
Work-Life Balance – Completely Disregarded:
The position demanded 24/7/365 on-call availability with brutally long work hours. Federal holidays offered no protection—last-minute client demands forced the cancellation of pre-approved vacation plans with zero advance notice, three years in a row. Employees and their families paid the ultimate price for executive management's inability to set fair boundaries. We lost money because we had to cancel our vacations.
Management & Culture – Toxic and Abusive:
Senior leadership routinely engaged in shockingly unprofessional conduct: yelling at staff, publicly demeaning employees in meetings and emails, and badmouthing team members to their subordinates. I personally witnessed inappropriate and unprofessional comments directed at employees. One manager told junior staff they needed to memorize the entire Scrum Guide word-for-word or be fired. Another openly disparaged certain employees behind the scenes while actively attempting to sabotage their work and positions. This behavior created—and continues to create—a hostile, demoralizing environment for employees.
Unreasonable Job Scope Creep
Management repeatedly demanded work far outside documented job descriptions and employee expertise. Non-technical staff were assigned highly technical projects with no prior experience, training or support, then threatened with termination when they raised legitimate concerns about capability gaps. One employee was expected to perform two completely different full-time roles simultaneously. When concerns were raised, management's response was: "If you want to keep your job, you'll do it—it looks like you just don't want to do the work." This was gaslighting, pure and simple.