Low pay. They do have great benefits, but when the pay is so far below what you could be making elsewhere, the benefits don't bridge the gap. They did away with merit increases several years ago and now everyone gets a flat 3% raise every July. When asked why these cost of living adjustments are lower than inflation, the Chief People Officer stated that they were never intended to keep pace with inflation. So this company is perfectly fine with you making less money year-over-year. They tout the opportunity to earn spot bonuses; however, these are nearly impossible to get approved, and even if you do it will only be $500. I also know of multiple people managers in the company making <$100K/yr.
The executive leadership team is inexperienced and out of their depth. For most of them it is their first C-suite role. The CEO has surrounded himself with yes-people and any voice of dissent is promptly shown the exit. They are consistently given the same feedback about low pay, RTO, change fatigue from ever-shifting priorities, etc. and they never look inward to change anything. They only point the finger back at the employees and blame them. This has created a toxic culture where people are literally told by their managers not to speak up in meetings because otherwise they will be targeted for the next round of layoffs.
Front line Managers often shoulder the brunt of this. Before the most recent Bertelsmann survey, managers were required to explain the company's pay policies to their direct reports. When the item about being compensated fairly came back low in the survey (as it does every single year), managers were blamed for not communicating the policies well enough. Clearly the issue is in the paycheck (which managers have no say in), not the communication. But again, that would require the C-Suite to take ownership, so it won't happen.
Frequent layoffs and restructuring. The Product team specifically restructures about twice a year, always with folks being let go in the process. Managers have historically not been given a say in which ICs were laid off, so even if you are doing a great job, you could be let go by no fault of your own.
