Talented people, toxic top, consider yourself warned
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
The colleagues and direct managers who deliver quality despite everything. Interesting work and a product with genuine market potential.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
A culture in upper leadership where self-interest comes before the good of the company, criticism gets punished, and equality only serves the external image.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Fill senior leadership positions based on competence and consistently measure leadership behaviour, for example through anonymous upward feedback with real consequences. Make promotion and salary criteria transparent. Treat criticism as information, not as an attack.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
A culture of fear. Anyone who raises issues becomes the problem. Morale is visibly low, many people are just going through the motions or actively looking elsewhere.
Image
The gap between the external image and the internal reality is wide. That is exactly what this review is meant to warn about.
Work-Life-Balance
Flexible on paper, but in reality constant availability is expected. Workload keeps rising due to headcount cuts and restructurings, with nothing to offset it.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
A training budget exists, real development does not. Promotions follow no transparent logic, and talent is leaving.
Gehalt/Benefits
Not in line with the industry anymore. Salary progression is opaque and depends on the goodwill of individuals.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Exists for external presentation, barely noticeable in daily work.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
Clearly the strongest point. At working level, people support each other professionally and personally. That includes the direct line managers, who stand behind their teams despite everything. This cohesion exists in spite of what happens at the top, not because of it.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
Neither specifically disadvantaged nor favoured. The same dynamics described under Equality apply here as well.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
The core problem sits clearly at the upper leadership levels. Positions there are awarded for loyalty and personal likeability rather than competence, conflicts are sat out, and inconvenient high performers are pushed aside. Personal targets and bonuses come before the long-term good of the company. The managers on the levels below deserve an explicit exception: they work hard to keep things running and to shield their teams from the consequences of this culture.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Equipment is fine, but constant reorganisations, unclear responsibilities and a growing workload with shrinking resources.
Kommunikation
Top-down with no feedback channel. Decisions come without explanation, critical feedback gets ignored or held against you. Important news travels through the grapevine, not from leadership.
Gleichberechtigung
On paper yes, in practice no. The top leadership is homogeneous, and there is clearly no will to change that. Women are routinely passed over in appointments and promotions, and demeaning behaviour towards women is tolerated and goes unpunished even when it happens in plain sight. Gender equality here is a facade for external image. Internally, what counts is the personal advancement of a few, not fairness, and anyone who points that out pays for it.
Interessante Aufgaben
The work itself is engaging and the product has real substance. Which makes it all the more frustrating that the situation at the top holds back its potential. Expert knowledge within the teams is routinely ignored. Decisions come top-down from people who have not engaged with the actual content, which leads to constant frustration among those who carry the real expertise. The gap between what people know and what gets decided is significant.