The Endless P/E Consultant Cycle: Kestra is in a perpetual state of P/E funding rounds, which triggers a predictable but damaging cycle. Management brings in high-priced consultants to "fix" or "optimize" workflows. In reality, these consultants lack institutional knowledge and simply create more work for actual employees—either through redundant reporting or by leaving behind broken processes once their contracts expire.
• Loss of Institutional Knowledge: Because of the culture, most employees with legacy knowledge have departed. The "consultant-first" mentality has replaced actual internal growth, leaving the remaining staff to pick up the pieces of a fragmented system.
• Compensation & Surveillance: Pay consistently sits below industry norms for nearly every role. This is compounded by the use of intrusive tracking software to monitor "productivity" during standard business hours, creating a culture of micro-management rather than trust.
• Leadership & HR Direction: Under the current HR leadership, the department feels more like a "fixer" for a distressed company than a support system for talent. There is a glaring lack of accountability at the executive level for unprofessional behavior.
• Unprofessional Executive Culture: In quarterly meetings, there have been instances where comments regarding the appearance of younger, male employees felt highly inappropriate and exclusionary. This creates a clear double standard that would never be tolerated if roles were reversed.
• The "Exit Mind-Fuck": Leaving Kestra feels like leaving a toxic relationship. The lack of clear communication, training, and manager accountability leaves you feeling like an "imposter", never achieving goals, constantly behind, not feeling like your labor is good enough, and internalizing all those feelings, even when you are doing the work of multiple people.
