Toxic Leadership at Its Core:
The CEO, Jo, is the heart of the dysfunction. She is verbally abusive, erratic, and rules by fear. Employees—especially ICs—live in constant anxiety, afraid of her unpredictable outbursts and nonsensical directives. She will override experts, force bad decisions, and then blame others when things inevitably go wrong.
Micromanagement Without Clarity:
Jo wants absolute control but lacks the ability to provide coherent guidance. You’ll be expected to read her mind, and even if you manage to, she’ll change it at the last second. Asking her questions is seen as insubordination, and any attempt at logic will be met with gaslighting.
No Clear Direction—Only Chaos:
Decisions are made on a whim, then reversed, then re-reversed. Jo contradicts herself constantly, which means nothing gets done efficiently. If you value structure, strategy, or even basic organization, this place will make your head spin.
High Turnover & Fear Culture:
People don’t just leave—they escape. And those who remain either have to dissociate to survive or have been completely brainwashed. Notice periods aren’t respected—Jo gets personally offended when people quit and immediately kicks them out, leaving no time for transition planning. This means remaining employees are constantly drowning in work while watching their colleagues vanish without explanation.
Manipulation & Psychological Warfare:
Jo fosters a culture of fear and instability, openly badmouthing employees who leave—or even those on PTO. One day, she sings your praises; the next, she tears you down over something trivial. She thrives on pitting employees against each other, creating an environment where trust and psychological safety don’t exist.
Despite insisting on total control, she regularly has emotional outbursts, whining about how busy she is while simultaneously micromanaging every detail. She manipulates the narrative around departures, framing resignations as firings and using former employees as scapegoats for ongoing dysfunction—never acknowledging that she is the root of the problem.
Her recent LinkedIn post about "steering the ship" was ironic, considering only brand-new or remote employees dared to engage. If she were truly an effective leader, wouldn’t her workforce be thriving instead of constantly fleeing? She blocked me the moment I left, which speaks volumes.
This isn’t just a toxic workplace—it’s a masterclass in manipulation.
Embarrassing & Unethical Practices:
Jo’s leadership is so irrational that it became a running joke among my friends. It’s that bad. I was personally embarrassed by some of the emails I was forced to send to customers. If you have professional integrity, expect it to be compromised.
Toxic Enablers & a Cult-Like Atmosphere:
There’s one other senior woman in leadership whose role is a complete mystery. She’s part-time, totally complicit in the toxicity, and seems to exist solely to back up Jo’s nonsense. It’s like Jo pays her just to have another “big title” in her corner. It gives tech horror movie vibes.
Even HR seems suspicious—some of the longer-term employees seem like decent people, but at this point, it’s Stockholm Syndrome. Either they’re too afraid to stand up to Jo, or they’ve been fully conditioned to accept the insanity.
No Career Growth—Only Survival Mode:
This job will do nothing for your career except stall it. Jo openly discusses employee salaries in an attempt to guilt-trip people. The company takes away the perks they advertise in job postings. The constant turnover means zero mentorship or development opportunities. You’ll just be stuck trying to survive while waiting for your escape plan to come together.
Customer Neglect & a Sinking Ship:
If this is what’s happening internally, imagine what it’s like for customers. They’re being abandoned left and right due to the turnover. No one has a long enough tenure to build meaningful relationships with them. It’s a complete disaster with a total lack of strategy, and customers absolutely notice.
