Natürlich geht es immer noch schlechter, ABER
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
- there is a social committee where you can help plan company events
- very different people with different backgrounds
- AC in the office works well
- even though the office is located a bit further out, it is well accessible by BVG.
- Very sensitive to dietary choices of employees when getting treats
- it is not very noticeable that there are many Mormons working here - religious affiliation does not matter between colleagues (the company's HQ is in Utah)
- I think the office may be wheelchair accessible (barrierefrei) but we don't have any colleagues in wheelchairs yet. Not sure about the toilet situation though :/
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
- it is not allowed anymore to stream anything (Spotify, YouTube, Online Radio...) from our work PCs.
- you can find the rest above
Verbesserungsvorschläge
- A leaving colleague formulated it this way: "As an employee, I don't have the feeling that I am contributing in a meaningful way" - so a way to influence decisions from management and shape the work we do would be nice.
- Giving the competences to Team Leads to autonomously make indicidual decisions regarding work flows/HR issues/"special" treatment of employees according to their needs/circumstances.
- Make the effort to introduce Homeoffice. Even though we're sitting at the same desk, we often still communicate through the chat system. I don't know how this couldn't be solved by implementing a VPN-server, Teamviewer and the chat system.
- Get rid of excessive time tracking and only focus on the number of completed tasks and their quality
- Install a worker's council (Betriebsrat) to look after fulltime employees who depend on the job for their living
- All team building should be done during working time not during breaks.
- The company should also talk about if something is not going well/is in the process of being firgured out
- decisions shouldn't be communicated top-down, but ASAP to all relevant parties
- get rid of the new dress code/make it clear it's not enforced
Arbeitsatmosphäre
Due to the extremely high fluctuation, the work atmosphere is very tense - in the whole open-plan office. Especially ever since biweekly meetings about personal performance KPIs and a three step plan to possible termination were introduced. Team Leads are trying to salvage it by introducing more team events - but it can happen that the atmosphere is so tense that not one person participates. Generally this is not very important though, since the work necessitates silent work and no offline interaction between employees.
Kommunikation
There seems to be a concept behind management strategies that includes a focus on communication. Unfortunately it is a very hierarchical concept which only works on the surface. Everything is answered promptly but no in-depth discussion of why processes are set up the way they are is welcome (and sometimes not even tolerated). There are quarterly feedback surveys on all levels of management and a quarterly town hall style office-wide meeting with the director.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
Don't expect anything. Most employees leave or are let go in under a year so mostly you're always getting to know people or saying goodbye to them - which leaves not much time to form any kind of team cohesion. This seems to be better in the CSR department but since there is no interaction between departments apart from between supervisors/team leads - who knows.
Work-Life-Balance
If you're looking for a work-life balance - go for it! No one will ask you to work more than your alloted time for the day. Since employees are mostly discouraged to form their own workflows if they deviate too strongly from company policy, you don't even get stressed out at home - it is a job with no responsibility for individual employees. Unfortunately hours are getting increasingly inflexible - so many students (Werkstudenten) are leaving because the job does not have a good work-study balance.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
They usually do their best and there is leadership training. Communication is fast and there are biweekly check-in meetings (which are logged and used for performance reviews though). I subtracted three stars because this should be standard. Good leadership should also support their employees so that their individual talent can work to the benefit of the company - any deviation from company norms (switching shifts, seating preferences, how to split up work in the team) is usually rejected though.
Interessante Aufgaben
No. We do SEO and Online content for many SMEs (in german: KMU), so the content of the work as well as the workflows are extremely repetitive. You can create your own challenges though, to work faster and with higher quality... which becomes old when you realize a pay rise is not coming.
Gleichberechtigung
This is a pleasant aspect - employees speak a range of languages and there are both women and men represented in management positions. It would have been five stars if this would be an official part of company values/was celebrated somehow.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
We have older colleagues in our department who are treated like all other employees. I couldn't tell you if that was good or bad though.
Arbeitsbedingungen
I wanted to give two stars since if you're looking for "just a job" for a limited time, this is a great gig. Lots of students, cold drinks and you can spend your whole day in tunnel vision at your desk if you want.
- But beyond that, employees have KPIs which are discussed biweekly with management and if there are shortcomings there is a 3 step plan to being terminated.
- Desks and chairs do not conform to DGUV recommendations and the issue has been repeatedly raised with management for over half a year - but they don't want to make it a priority.
- Employees do not have the possibility to shape their team/workflows in any way apart from becoming part of management.... and even then there is a lot of "we have to write an email to the US to answer that question".
- Time tracking is a very big thing here and all aspects of your work are analyzed and used for performance reviews.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
There was an event for Earth day where employees could bring old plants from home which were repotted. Apart from that, I guess we use reusable cutlery and plates?
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
It is a livable wage, but still what you would call low pay. Pay rises are usually rejected after which employees leave the company. You are allowed to take a certain number of mental health days per year but vacation days are low regarding the German average. After your probation, you can earn a slice of the quarterly bonus - but how this is decided, how big it is or any kind of predictability is refused/not possible.
Image
You probably googled it before you landed here. Juding by the blanked yelp reviews, it seems to be better in Berlin than in the US at least.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
Since there are very specific work flows and it is a big company, there is internalt educational material that management promotes when prompted/asked for by employees. You can also shadow in most of the other departments in you request it. Unfortunately the specificity also means that you won't gain knowledge that is applicable industry-wide - but it is a great look behind the curtain of online marketing for SMEs.
During the last growth-spurt a lot of management positions opened up and were filled with internal hires. Since many people only do this "as a job", your chance of being promoted are not slim as long as you don't appear insubordinate.