31 Bewertungen von Mitarbeiter:innenkununu Prüfprozess
kununu Prüfprozess
31 Mitarbeiter:innen haben diesen Arbeitgeber mit durchschnittlich 4,1 Punkten auf einer Skala von 1 bis 5 bewertet.
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kununu Prüfprozess
31 Mitarbeiter:innen haben diesen Arbeitgeber mit durchschnittlich 4,1 Punkten auf einer Skala von 1 bis 5 bewertet.
WDL offers a truly unique opportunity to work on impactful data science and AI projects for Africa with a highly skilled and diverse international team. The work is meaningful, the autonomy is real, and the exposure to high-level stakeholders like the Mastercard Foundation is remarkable. As a Data Scientist, I get to work on cutting-edge labor market analytics while being fully integrated into a global team
As a remote employee based in Africa, there is room to further develop the onboarding experience to help new team members get up to speed even faster. The compensation is competitive for the African market, and there is potential to continue evolving it as the organization grows
A clearer career progression framework for remote contractors would help retain talent
I appreciate that management takes the time to have conversations with us one on one to not only ask about how our work is doing, but also if we had any suggestions to improve the way we work and overall how we feel within the team at WDL.
I believe there is an opportunity to review our current benefits package for international contractors; expanding our employee offerings would go a long way in ensuring the team feels fully supported and remains competitive with industry standards.
I would suggest exploring a 4-day work week pilot program. Recent global studies and trials (such as those by 4 Day Week Global) show that a compressed schedule can maintain or even increase productivity while significantly boosting employee wellbeing. Furthermore, this would position us as a forward-thinking leader in our industry and help attract and keep the best talent.
My team welcomed me with open arms and automatically let me know I could come to them if I had any questions or issues. We communicate daily informally, and have weekly video meetings. After my first week, I was given my first tasks and I was able to work in an autonomous way while my manager was still asking me if I needed any help from time to time. I was able to learn quickly thanks to this environment created by my teammates. I also like that I was able to work on tasks outside of my primary work with other colleagues.
My direct manager is very accessible and commited to help us.
Within the broader team, the high frequency of daily meetings can occasionally disrupt deep-work cycles and workflow efficiency. While I appreciate that this is already being revised (such as moving certain meetings to a bi-weekly cadence), it remains a challenge for productivity.
Company is well respected among all clients I worked with
Very good team spirit
Difficult to rate as average staff is young
Though it is a young business and everything still flexible, leadership does a good job in bringing everybody up to speed. Overall, they make you feel appreciated
That part is outstanding - very interesting projects and clients
Excellent working atmosphere to work from
The image goes really well with what the comany is about
works on working days and have enough days for a holiday
Great area to advance in career
Good salary, same as the market
great environmental and social awareness
Good Colleagues cohesion in the company
polite way of dealing with older colleagues
very supportive leadership team in the company
vibrant working conditions filled with intersting pople
Great communication in the company
Everyone is treated and seen equally
Quite Interesting and challenging taskson every project
What I liked about this internship was the vibrant, collaborative environment. The young, friendly team made me feel welcome from day one, and my contributions were genuinely valued. I appreciated the guidance and support, along with the encouragement to take initiative. The work was interesting and varied, allowing me to make a real impact. The company also hosted fun events that helped me connect with colleagues and feel part of the team. Overall, it was a great learning experience with meaningful involvement in exciting projects.
Dass dann die ganz frisch Angestellten, ohne Erfahrung, dazu bewegt werden hier oberflaechlich positiven Feedback abzuliefern.
Es gibt vieles!
nett unter Kollegen, schlecht (angespannt) mit Management
Image ist das Wichtigste in der Firma. Keine Substanz
Man glaubt das Produkt hat mit ESG zu tun. Hat es aber nicht
Es gibt 2 Kategoriern: junge "Gruene" und das alte Management (letzere geht sehr gut mit sich selbst um). Mittlere Management, oder Leute mittleren Alters mit etwas Berufserfahrung haben hier nichts verloren, denn ihr Input steht nur im Weg
Top-Down, einschuechternd
selective gute Behandlung mit "yay-sayers": jegliche konstruktive Kritik oder Verbesserungsvorschlage fuehrt zu schlechter Behandlung, inklusive public shaming.
scheinbar interessant, aber das Produkt wurde fuer das unsichtbare Agenda manipuliert
Very friendly, open-minded and relaxed.
WDL is very inclusive employer who provides flexibility to the employees, and embrace the fact if you have family by creating supportive actions to adjust your working conditions.
Great, I love my team!
I appreciate my CEO, he is global citizen, open minded and hard working person.
I appreciate the great communication with our CEO and my colleagues. I work with great team and learning every day something new which allows me to grow, and it is thanks to very people who are carefully chosen. I focus on positive rather than negative, however our CEO is always open to hear the feedback and doing the steps to improve.
If you desire to grow and embrace your carrier, WDL is right place to work on interesting projects, tasks as long you embrace it and have an interest.
I really enjoy how fast-paced the work is. No two days is the same. The company is also doing a great job of putting exciting opportunities on your desk.
As with any start-up, flexibility is important but this could also be perceived as a positive. Nothing is stale, like perhaps you'd find at a bigger company.
I have few suggestions since I have been overly pleased by my experience at WDL.
The office is an open and inviting place.
Management respects your boundaries.
There is great cohesion; communal lunches are popular. The employees genuinely enjoy being around each other.
I have been really impressed and inspired by management. They are an ambitious, accomplished, and approachable group.
Communication is clear and straightforward. I have been impressed by how open the CEO is with the employees about clients and dels.
That I left this toxic releationship
Pretty much everything. Honestly. Read my review
Shut it down
People come because of the projects, stay because of the colleagues and leave because of the management.
The mangagement has a toxic positivity bias. It is impossible to communicate with them about actual operational challenges because according to them "complaining is cancerous", yes this is an actual quote from one of their "inspirational" slide decks.
They will ignore any real world problem if it does not fit their narrative effectively creating impossible situations for the people working on projects and trying to fulfil the contractual obligations of the company. If you point out problems you will be sidelined
This so-called "scale-up" quickly reveals itself as a quagmire for those tasked with delivering actual results, particularly project managers and senior staff.
This is not the focus of the management. Their focus is to look good and to "be inspired".
You will be stuck in meeting after meeting in which the top-management will give self-aggrandizing powerpoint presentations about their family life, their travels, and how they single handedly saved Africa by bringing them cheap tooth-paste and soap.
Full-time and part-time temporary freelance contracts without paid leave were the norm. The Austrian Social Security Agency (ÖGK) later decided these should have been regular jobs under mandatory social security laws. The employer knew this but kept dangling the promise of real contracts without delivering, suggesting illegal conduct.
With no room for side gigs, workers felt pressured to avoid sick leave to secure contract renewals.
Not working means no pay, and taking sick days is frowned upon, a stance that was harsh during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freelancers are expected to be on call at all times, with top management requiring availability through personal communication channels even after hours.
If unavailable, finding a personal replacement is expected. Despite low pay, the responsibility is immense, with an expectation to perform well beyond the call of duty, under the guise of "great opportunities."
In reality, their commitment to environmental and social awareness exists only on paper.
In theory, there should be no difference between theory and practice, but here, they are only theoretically the same.
The colleagues are the highlight of the job—motivated, international, academically inclined, and leaning left, they add value to WDL. The company, adept at promoting its "green-washing" narrative, attracts such talent effectively.
However, it doesn't take long for most to see that this facade is a front for a purely profit-driven entity, using "data-for-good" as a guise to procure and exploit inexpensive labor.
They offer NGO-level salaries but expect output comparable to that of a McKinsey analyst, a disparity that leads to high turnover as the more perceptive employees soon depart, recognizing the operation as a profit-making venture for the owners.
Those who stay liken their coping mechanisms to AA group therapy, constantly airing grievances about management in WhatsApp groups, yet feeling unable to exit.
An ex-colleague summed it up: "WDL is akin to an abusive relationship."
Understandably, staff turnover is exceedingly high.
Top management employs "greenwashing" narratives to attract eager university graduates willing to accept modest wages for the perceived "greater good". Yet, rather than contributing to philanthropic projects, employees find themselves supporting mega corporations like L'Oreal with their expansion in the developing world. The "data-for-good" slogan is nothing more than a veneer for profitability.
Promises from management often fall by the wayside unless they serve their own agenda. It's advisable for those employed to have all agreements in writing.
There's a notable lack of organization, compounded by a blatant disregard for Austrian labor laws, with claims that recruiting more affordable data scientists from abroad is necessary due to high local costs.
To skirt around social security contributions, management pushes staff into freelance contracts.
Ignoring project managers' advice, they haphazardly shift resources to projects they suddenly prioritize, leading to unrealistic deadlines and excessive pressure on teams.
The company is mired in technical debt, offers low wages, and operates in near-constant chaos. It's a jumble of buzzwords with no solid business processes in place. Questionable accounting practices are the norm, alongside a stark disregard for project management and project managers. Additionally, it seems to flout Austrian labor law with impunity.
The turnover rate is alarmingly high, reflecting perhaps on the incompetence of HR. Employees are often underpaid despite bearing heavy responsibilities, a situation exacerbated by title and project creep, as well as incessant meetings. Management lacks technical expertise, documentation is non-existent, and crunch times are frequent.
There's a disturbing trend of data tampering to fit narratives, reckless "back of the envelope" decisions rushing into production without proper data validation. A culture of scapegoating pervades, adding to the overall dysfunction.
The top management is only focused on the impression they make on "important people," showing blatant disregard for those they consider "beneath" them.
As a result, crucial information often goes unmentioned, or falsehoods are presented if the truth would reflect poorly on the company in the eyes of these "important people."
They arbitrarily assign roles of "scapegoats" and "superstars," basing their decisions on utterly superficial criteria
They planed to introduce regular quizzes on Excel table contents as "a factor for future career trajectory in WDL." They expected employees to memorize and be quizzed on arbitrary data, suggesting that being labeled a "superstar" depends more on trivia than on actual work performance or productivity.
With this insight, one might easily spot the inauthentic reviews they could be posting themselves here.
Everyone is equally replaceable in the eyes of the senior management
When you are granted the opportunity to work on public sector projects for the "NGO" side (which actually is and always has been a for-profit enterprise), the work is genuinely interesting.
However, the reality is that your time will be consumed by assisting mega-corporations in selling toothpaste to Africans, alongside fulfilling greenwashing initiatives in your spare time.
Expect to justify these tasks to the grant providers as "top-notch" work and brace yourself for criticism from the management for not dedicating enough time to make them wealthy AND fulfill the grant obligations.
That I left it before they were running out of money to pay their employees.
Pretty much everything, but the management is probably the worst part
Shutting down.
Company is actively trying to create a hostile environment. Instead of fostering cooperation, they are incentivizing to keep crucial information from colleagues. There are competitions to create meaningless "insights" that have no business value, but the boss can use them to brag in client calls.
They claim they are the good guys, but everyone that works there knows how shady they are.
There is none, you are expected to answer calls outside of regular working hours. The boss will also write you on weekends and expect you to organise a replacement yourself if you ever happen not to work (because he is convinced this is not a manager's task).
Rising up to the senior level is only possible if you do not have a moral compass, self-respect and you show undying loyalty to the bosses and founders.
Salary is the bare minimum required by the collective bargaining agreement. If your collective bargaining agreement improves WDL claim it was their idea and that it is just an individual benefit.
Salary did not reflect the work load or the availability after 6pm or weekends in any way. You get the workload and tasks of 3 positions but are paid for just one.
Clear case of greenwashing. They pretend to care about the sustainable development goals but admit that they would sell their data to anyone. Employees were quitting because they did not want to be associated with certain clients but the management didnt care. Management also admitted that they would hire racists, homophobes or misogynists as long as they worked hard.
The only thing that connects you to your colleagues are the weekly whining sessions of how awful the place is. 80% of the colleagues were about to leave WDL anyway and the other 20% stayed there because they didn't really have another choice.
Except for the founders there are no people older than 40 that can stay at this place for longer than a year. All of them have more experience in the labour market and realize how badly this place treats everyone.
Poor communication skills, unable to guide his employees, not able to take responsibility for any mistakes he made. Management skills are out of this world (in a negative way). He does not reward employees that are good at their job or create value for the company but the ones that dont criticize him or show loyalty. Most employees will say he is unfit to be a boss but since he is also the founder it is impossible to remove him.
Expect to work in an open plan office that is somehow half empty but still way too loud to do any work that requires concentration. People have virtual calls all the time and just refuse to use meeting rooms to not disturb other people.
If you are not a senior you need to work on your own private equipment, yet you will be made responsible if codes or programs dont run on it. Cyber security is probably a word this company has never heard of.
Instead of actual guidance or tasks you will only get some corporate jargon that is devoid of any logic or meaning. If the management messes something up they gaslight you that the mistake was actually yours.
Everyone is equally replaceable in the eyes of the Senior Management.
None. They lure you in promising you work on meaningful stuff like the sustainable development goals, but you will end up doing boring corporate work, without the better pay, stability or benefits a corporate employer would offer you.
So verdient kununu Geld.