New Balance no longer has the incredible culture of valuing employees and their contributions as they did before. New directors and management as of the last year have come in to the marketing department and completely blown up the organization, demoting seasoned, experienced managers with the company for years in hopes they resign in spite, just to be replaced by new, green managers with half the experience. The company has completely changed its' culture, putting growth and profits over employees who have been at the company long before NB saw this explosive growth. Associates are promoted based on who they know and rub shoulders with, while others working hard with their heads down are overlooked for opportunities. The in office culture is toxic, with associates gossiping about others across the way from their desks and discussing NSFW topics way above conversational speaking volume. It's all about who you know and who you kiss up to rather than how hard you actually work.
Associate concerns are ignored and dismissed, assuming that we exist solely to work at New Balance and no function outside of what benefits the company. Exceptions are given to some associates to be flexible and work remotely, while others newly in need of flexibility due to disability status are not provided reasonable accommodations. An attempt to drive home wonderful in office culture where 90% of the time meetings are remote results in seasoned employees with personal needs to be pushed out of the company regardless of NB seniority and irrespective of hardships faced in their personal lives. HR and the company have no interest in supporting, or even speaking to, employees who require accommodations due to serious circumstances. The culture that once existed before where associates were encouraged to speak their minds and share feedback is no longer; instead, your request from HR is returned with passive-aggressive comments, eye rolling, interruption when speaking, and minimizing of significant personal circumstances all to avoid making reasonable exceptions.