⦁ Horribly unrealistic goals especially for new hires (a direct example: being told to go X amount of days without making mistakes, lest one be penalized). How can humans predict when they will make mistakes? Can management go without making mistakes? Should employers be held to the same stringent standards they hold their employees to? If an employee has approached you civilly regarding a position they are not a good fit for, does that a) discredit their strenuous efforts in trying to fit that position and b) make it an even ground to demerit them?
⦁ Favoritism. You will be talked about inside and outside of work. If you rub elbows with the right people, you should be okay regardless how you treat your employees/coworkers, though. Also if you've worked there over a year. It's almost like a club. Your suggestions ultimately won't matter, either. They will be glossed over. Remember: you are replaceable.
⦁ Micromanagement. Every single thing you do will be analyzed, even irrelevant things such as politely apologizing to someone in an email chain ("we don't want them to think we don't know what we're talking about").
⦁ Not an environment that fosters good morale: "We don't want to focus on what you're doing right. We want to focus on your mistakes." <--- This is a direct quote from a manager. Mistakes are useful for improvement, but telling a person that daily will affect their confidence. There isn't enough positivity for employees. People are not hearing what they're doing right to keep them encouraged to go forward. Just as the DiSC tests show, people have different personalities, learning methods and needs in a workplace.
⦁ Very high turnover rate regardless of tenure, which even new hires have noticed. That is a huge red flag of something amiss within the whole operation. It's one thing to have quality standards, but it's a whole different beast to have impossible standards.
⦁ "Cross-training." If you find a place you feel comfortable in and ask to transfer within the same department after you've cross-trained and the manager says they will look into it, do not get your hopes up.
⦁ PIP (Performance Improvement Plan): if you get this, be prepared to run 98% of the time. You can keep detailed records of the things you're improving on and it will not be enough; they will push it aside and directly tell you they are focusing on your mistakes.
⦁ Periodical reviews. If you are retained and your reviews go fine, still be on your guard. Why? Because you can still be written up for mistakes you made before the reviews, even though your reviews said you did fine and you weren't going to be terminated. If someone passes a test, why go back and give them detention for the answers they got wrong?
At some point, these are all points that have emerged from direct observation and conversations with co-workers prior.
Thanks for reading.
