Better to avoid
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Good colleagues, flexible working hours and home office option
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Lack of respect for employees, managers with toxic and authoritarian leadership style creating fear and anger, 2 class hierarchy, inequal treatment, poor communication, too much focus on business and less on people, too many shifts in decisions and directions
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Pay attention to the employees so that a workers council will not be needed. Respect employees and treat them like people, not rubbish. Understand that AI cannot replace all people. Make hierarchies flat again and increase communication and transparency.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
In my opinion the work atmosphere got worse and worse and was characterized by fear and anger. One factor contributing were the layoffs this year, which were executed in a very impersonal way without much respect in my opinion, but see below in communication. It was frustrating to see that the company believes that AI can replace whole tech departments. This not only created great uncertainty but also brought frustration among the people who might want to leave now but cannot because the job market if very difficult right now. Besides, there were frequent shifts in direction and priorities from the company and managers which was frustrating for us.
Work-Life-Balance
In my opinion, work-life-balance is perceived as a sign of weakness in this company. It all seems still very start up like where you are expected to give as much as the founders themselves. I saw certain managers work extremely long hours, working during vacation and sickness and it felt like many also expected the same of their team. Other managers seemed to be more conscious about this topic and handled it better.
Gehalt/Benefits
Salary was fine but intransparent. Maybe the new law about salary transparency will create some more light and fairness in salaries and changes.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
No initiatives that I know of
Kollegenzusammenhalt
This seemed to be the saving factor for the company so far since I got to work with really great people, and we have sticked together. Between some teams, some rivalries were felt though.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
Rare cases as far as I know, people seemed pretty young
Vorgesetztenverhalten
This very much varies depending on the manager. Some have an authoritarian style and execute strict hierarchies, unable to take feedback with little care for people and all care for business, in my opinion. A 2 class society with top down decisions has been established. It reminds of a blue collar atmosphere. Many decisions seemed to be based on egoistic principles as well as emotions and not rationales. Other managers seemed approachable, motivating and open for feedback.
This created great inequality in treatment and happiness of different teams under different managers. Many seemed burned out and carried heavy burdens due to this in my eyes toxic leadership style. So be careful when choosing your manager or manager's manager.
Arbeitsbedingungen
If you speak up or go against the (mostly monetary) will of some higher managers, you will make enemies. In my experience, the treatment after speaking up for what is right, was extremely humiliating, beyond disrespectful and only aimed at burning you out so that you give up in the process. It involved damaging working conditions, emotional manipulation and abuse, extreme exclusion and great health impairment. In my opinion, this can be considered illegal treatment and should be reported to higher authorities and make the company form a workers council.
Kommunikation
It was beyond my understanding that the communication about terminations was a 2 minute mass call with the c level reading from a paper. It seemed like a huge lack of respect and dignity to me and made me feel angry and treated like rubbish. No matter if you worked there for 4 days or 4 years. Speaks volumes in my opinion about how they see people only as resources. (And speaks volumes that those positions are open again now).
Besides, the good initiatives to improve company communication like frequent townhalls and updates in slack e.g. about people coming and going have been stopped or reduced massively. Hence, communication does not seem to be worth anything for the management, despite these uncertain times, and people talk behind the curtain a lot.
Gleichberechtigung
I felt some people were preferred over others when it comes to freedom in misbehavior, benefits or money. In my team it was equal though.
Interessante Aufgaben
Due to many changes in the company and directions it never got boring