When I first joined palmetto, I was excited to be joining a company combating climate change. My excitement grew during the first company meeting, when I heard Chris Kemper talk about being a people first company, and they seemed to take diversity and inclusion very seriously, hosting company wide meetings on the topic that seemed to be really productive and engaging. I really thought I had found a company that I could be proud to work for. My direct co-workers really helped re-enforce this. They truly valued open honest communication and created safe spaces where you could be vulnerable.
As a cis-gendered, straight white male I can fit in pretty much anywhere in tech. But I want everyone to fit in, and that is what I found personally on my teams, and other similar teams. Our teams truly valued everyone, and because of that we had the strongest teams I've been on.
The longer I was at the company, though, the more I learned that my situation was not global. For all the talk of embracing diversity, the company does not walk the walk. Multiple people have left, either forced out or quit, due to the way they are treated by their managers.
They talk but do not follow up. They will give many words to the importance of work-life balance and how you need to take care of yourself. But if you do, then you'll get talked to about how you need to hustle more. "Sure we have a four day work week, but you can show how dedicated you are by working five days anyway." They talk about being a 'people-first' company, but upper management very clearly does not care about employees as people.
Upper management is neither honest nor direct. They lie. They gaslight. They treat people terribly when they think they can get away with it because no one else is watching. They say one thing publicly and another thing privately.