My first thought reading this is that I'm happy Glassdoor is actually having an impact.<p>15 months ago I started work as a Software Manager at a large arts and crafts retailer. Much of the job seemed completely in line with my interest and what I wanted to do, but two weeks in I figured out the place was clownishly toxic and the CTO, despite an impressive educational background, had a cartoonish understanding of how software is made. So I resigned and sought new opportunities. I've never worked less than 18 months at any job, and that made leaving a tough pill to swallow.<p>Looking at the reviews on Glassdoor (and TeamBlind) left since my departure, I can see my intuitions were spot on. Reviewers' descriptions of the environment seem absurd, but unfortunately they are completely consistent with what my spider-sense was telling me. I hope Glassdoor has helped others avoid the misery of employment there.
Sounds like a company I know. We placed one of our Engineer contractors there - all was well. Then he joined the company (perfectly agreeable all around) and instantly started getting shit on by their CEO. Public criticism of everthing he did; outrageous demands on their time; exclusion from company events for fake emergencies; announcements that his department (consisting of exactly one person, him) was under-performing the other department (12 people) at company meetings.<p>So he quit; they panicked; he's now a contractor again with double the pay and reporting to a VP he got along with.
It's easy to overcomplicate this. Why work for someone who is an arsehole? Leave! Why are you worrying about good people not applying because of your bad glass door ratings? Do you actually want good peopel to be exposed to your arsehole CEO? Will they make a difference? No.<p>Either you make the judgement you can outlast the CEO, or you should be thinking of your career outside of the company.
This brings to mind something interesting to me.<p>I have had 5 jobs in software in the past 10 years, and the first four were frustrating in different ways. Frustrating coworkers, bad pay, annoying location, dismal office, no vacation -- all different combinations of problems.<p>My current job, however, at a reasonably well known non-FAANG tech company, is in most ways perfect. I work remotely but have a NYC salary. My coworkers are delightful. The work is stress-free with top-of-the-line work-life balance, flexible PTO and a lot of holidays. I have no complaints.<p>EXCEPT that it's insanely boring. It's just such meaningless, boring work.<p>And that's the quandary. I know how stressful and frustrating most jobs are. I know this job is 90% perfect other than leaving me feeling unfulfilled. I know the odds of finding another job with such a combination of factors is very low.<p>So I stay, even as I see talented engineers moving on as described in the reddit thread and in this one. I'm not staying because I can't get work elsewhere - I'm staying because I don't believe I can find comparably stress-free high-paying work elsewhere.
While I agree with the advice to leave, this person may be reluctant to leave because their compensation package is not fully vested. There is a famously toxic culture at - uh, you know, a large internet retailer with a prominent web services business - whose primary compensation is/was stock on 2-4 year vesting schedules. I personally know people who had literal heart attacks, mental breakdowns, and other serious and life threatening health consequences that arose as a direct result of staying in that toxic environment too long.<p>It's not worth it. My friend who had a heart attack at 40 would gladly trade back the $750k in stock he got in exchange. Life is short.
Yeah I worked for a dude like this before. He'd come into the office literally in people's faces like screaming at the top of his lungs. He did that to me once and I told him to never talk to me again. If he needs something he can go through my manager.<p>6 months later the board decided he was too much of a liability and he resigned. He also had several sexual harassment lawsuits against him.
Why are you still there, with the job market being what it is now?<p>I mean, you fairly quickly see where this is going to lead. Why stay in a sinking ship?
Wow this is horrifying. It's time to abandon the ship and take your very valuable skills someplace they will be appreciated. In my experience with people like the CEO described here they are usually people whom are unable to engage in self reflection, but somehow delivering that rating to the CEO to see how miserable his rating is may be a much needed wake up call.
I worked at a company with a comically terrible (criminal) CEO. The year I quit, the company Glassdoor rating went from average to bad due to multiple reviews. Half a year later, after more people quit, I see lots of fake reviews, the worst (accurate) reviews gone, and the rating is back to decent. Apparently, even seemingly good things can be subverted.
> The company’s solution was to mass hire to make up for the losses.<p>Yeah, this company is in life support, then.<p>There is this other company where there are a handful of the shittiest managers I have ever heard of in my whole career. As a result, most key engineers are leaving, and the company is ramping up hires.<p>They don't seem to understand that it doesn't matter how many more people you hire, if all the know-how and leadership has vanished already.
A very large inernational engineering company hires lots of new grads, one of them a former co-worker of mine who described how her boss told her "You're like an orange; we'll squeeze all the juice out of you until there's nothing left but pulp and peel, then you'll quit or we'll throw you away". I guess this could also describe most law firms and management consultancies as well. Is it better or worse when it's systemic and not just an a-hole CEO?
Whole situation sounds like typical startup growing pains and this is the OPs first rodeo of this kind. The original crew of developers was happy during the early days when it was all cozy and limitless upside, but now there's new funding, new bosses, new managers, new processes, new rules, new coworkers that "don't get it" and that old fun and cozy vibe is lost. The new CEO will likely be fired by the board too, but face it, the cozy days are over. So either find yourself a role in that circus that you like, or quit.
Ha reminds me of a previous company I worked at. The amount of exec and employee turnover was horrible. Yet the CEO and company have good ratings on Glassdoor. And the CEO sincerely believes that such turnover is a feature.
Brit here, slightly different topic, but related. American corporate culture scares the crap out of me, I never fully understood why there is such a presenteeism culture. I mean it exists here and in Europe but not to the same extent and where people are just numbers that are hired and fired so easily without workers rights.
I'm stunned at the board's complete lack of awareness.<p>I would have hoped that any competent board member would want to view metrics around retention and morale, and that large shifts would be something they'd dig into.