Communication: You don’t know of changes before they are put in effect. Communication with managers is terrible. It is never an open forum. When you bring up examples of something – they will ask ‘who said that’ or ask for specific names. So there’s a lot of finger pointing and blaming. The lack of communication is comical at times. Every bit of information I learned about when people are being hired, when people are moving to other departments, any changes at all has been from a colleague. Sounds like a rumor mill because it is. And it isn't that they are waiting to finalize things, we just never hear anything from management. Silence.
Role/Promotions: Roles work in whatever way allows management to favor who they want while not paying people for the work they do. Promotions are based on an arbitrary and subjective list of attributes of the employee, but even if you “check all the boxes” promotions are seemingly only possible once a year so be prepared to be told month after month that you will be promoted in the coming months until an entire year goes by. Moving from help desk to PMO support should be a title change – its’ different work, more difficult, deserving of a pay change. It is incredibly frustrating doing the exact same work as a colleague but knowing they have a different title and are being paid more for their work. If the managers really love you, (meaning that you have completely bought into their terrible management style and decided to take on that approach), they might create a role just for you and never actually hold interviews or make public that a new role has been created. The favoritism is out of control. They have also invented new roles, basically getting people to do the managements dirty work, and asked application specialists and analysts to take it on. Again, no title change and no raise. Just way more work and responsibility. Skill and experience are not rewarded here. Ever. When other people responded negatively to this new role, management repeatedly claimed it was what we had asked for in a survey given out. In reality, we had asked that our managers be more available. They basically did the opposite by putting more people between us and them.
Gaslighting: Management blames productivity on the people left in a department that is clearly understaffed and often employs gaslighting to get their employees to comply.
If you messed up and have an understaffed department don't make your employees feel like they are to blame for not doing enough. They are always working hard. How about thanking them in a genuine way? Maybe even apologizing when management messes up? Do you really want to be a manager using a tactic for psychological abuse on your employees? Probably not.
Management Style (or lack thereof): When starting, there is a sink or swim attitude. If you don’t pick it up on your own and exceed without any help, then you fail. There are hardly any resources for anyone who is failing besides being reprimanded. Their attempts at improving morale are embarrassing and as soon as they see any major issues going away they return to their same ways, which have proven time and again to be very very bad. They operate on a 'putting out fires' mentality. There is no forward thinking, no planning ahead. Management has made it seem like they don’t have time for meetings. And then they get mad when their employees don’t go to them with concerns or struggles. If you make yourself unapproachable and continually have a bad attitude, you cannot expect people to go out of their way to seek guidance from you. Management loves to ask rhetorical questions in meetings. It is a way to belittle staff. The relationship between manager/ employee is not professional.
Shifts: Management did not make it enough of a priority to inform applicants of the possible shifts they will work. Instead, they make vague statements when asked if we will work a typical work week. Honesty isn't really their thing. Instead, they lie and then treat their employees like children who weren't listening when they explained how it all works. If you end up with a “swing shift” you are treated as though that assignment was a deserved punishment that you need to earn your way from in order to get a day shift. People who started at the same time as you will have your desired shift from the start, not having earned it in any capacity.
Sexism: It was difficult to imagine my career growing within the support department because management was almost entirely made up of men. Any efforts made to provide opportunities for socializing and bonding within the department were based around male-dominated interests and activities such as shooting and fantasy sports leagues. There was no effort to come up with activities that would be inclusive of all interests or at least have a variety of activities covering many interests. Outside of support, men in higher up positions continuously creep on younger women. The environment of the company allows them to keep doing it.
