This is one of the most toxic environments I have ever experienced. Gaslighting is not the exception, it is the norm. Very little here is genuine. Nearly everything feels staged, performative, and designed to maintain appearances rather than reflect reality.
Design leadership is a complete failure. Design managers lack both credibility and backbone, and performance reviews are nothing more than political theatre. Designers have virtually no say in what actually ships, they are there to build screens, and anyone who cares about doing proper UX work is forced to compensate by working unsustainable hours, right up until they burn out.
Burnout here is not a buzzword, it is a pattern, and it is serious. It means people working late nights and weekends just to meet unrealistic expectations. It means constant stress, mental exhaustion, and a steady erosion of motivation and confidence. It means talented designers going from passionate and engaged to completely drained, disengaged, and questioning their own abilities.
This is not about one or two isolated cases. It is widespread. A significant portion of the design team has either burned out or left because of it. I have personally seen multiple colleagues reach breaking point, some needing time off to recover, attending doctor appointements, others leaving entirely because staying was no longer sustainable for their health. When burnout becomes this common, it is no longer an individual issue, it is a systemic failure.
The so-called “People Team” is particularly disturbing. They present themselves as supportive and approachable, but in reality, their behavior feels calculated and, at times, ruthless. The gap between how they brand themselves and how they operate is staggering.
When the People Team reaches out with a casual “how are you?”, it does not come across as care. It feels like a checkbox exercise, or worse, an attempt to manage risk under the guise of concern.
What remains is an environment shaped by weak leadership, poor accountability, and management behavior that can feel patronising and, at times, uncomfortably close to discriminatory.
Frankly, the situation raises serious questions about how this company operates internally. Based on my experience, I would not recommend working here under any circumstances.
