Severe India vs. US disparity — Good, visible work is consistently credited to US counterparts. When something goes wrong, blame flows downstream to India. This double standard is demoralizing and never addressed by leadership.
Rampant office politics — Career growth is driven more by who you know than what you deliver. Meritocracy is a stated value, not a practiced one.
Micromanagement culture — Despite hiring experienced engineers, managers frequently second-guess decisions, require unnecessary check-ins, and undermine engineer autonomy.
Managers lack people skills — Several engineering managers in the ZPA org are technically okay but fundamentally lack empathy, communication, and the ability to build psychologically safe teams.
Zero team culture in ZPA Broker org — Engineers operate in silos. Asking for help is often met with indifference or passive gatekeeping. Knowledge hoarding is a survival strategy here, not an anomaly.
Toxic individualism — Highly competitive in the worst way — not healthy competition that raises the team, but cutthroat behavior where colleagues actively avoid helping peers to protect their own visibility.
Favouritism is real and visible — Certain employees get preferential treatment in promotions, project assignments, and performance reviews regardless of contribution.
No psychological safety — Raising concerns, flagging inefficiencies, or giving honest feedback is career-limiting. The culture rewards silence.
