More focused on appearance than actual being a good employer
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
They have a nice terrace and view from their office.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
The company in my view has a culture where everything is supposed to look shiny and happy, when "off camera" often the opposite is the case. Lots of pressure from management, lack of input by employees.
Also this forced image of being a "happy and cool company" where everybody is best friends with each other with all these after work events that you are kind of forced to attend not to make a bad impression.
HR and recruiters are very hard to work with. When I was hired, my official first day at work was a Friday (1st of the month), so I asked if I could not just start on a Monday. HR insisted on me coming friday as a big event for all the new hires was planned. So I cut my holidays short to be able to start on friday. Fast forward - I arrive on friday and there was no event and not even a desk for me and most of my co-workers were very confused why I start on a friday. When I asked HR to clarify that, they sent a complaint to my manager about me.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Focus less on the companies brand and actually be fair to your employees. Cut back on all these company events and generally this facade of "we are all so happy and cool". Pay fair salaries and offer fair amount of paid holiday. Basically, be a good employer instead of just pretending to be one on the surface.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
Privately among employees there was a lot complaining about the company, but since at least officially Free Now is the coolest and best company to work for no one really voiced their complaints openly. It was often very cringy.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
depends on the team, i guess. I personally experienced bullying which was more or less tolerated by my superior.
Work-Life-Balance
On fridays, I felt almost forced to have a beer after work with my co-workers when in reality I just wanted to leave and mind my own business. It was this typical google-esque company culture where an employee should spent as much of their free time at work, because the company is like your second family, which I did not like at all-
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Bad. In my view, mid management is under huge pressure from upper management, who in my opinion do not care very much about employees. There is no clear and open communication about what is being asked from you as an employee. Mid management seems to be tasked with way too much stuff and basically just run from meeting to meeting without being able to really engage with their employees.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Well, as a cab hailing company, Free Now once hiked the fees that taxi drivers had to pay for each ride acquired via the app and this actually caused a big protest of taxi drivers in front of the companies HQ in Hamburg.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
I cannot say whether it is actually a fact, but I had the feeling that Free Now intentionally hire people from non-EU countries as they didn't demand as much of a salary as people who have previously worked in the EU before joining Free Now. Also non-EU citizens have their residence permit tied to their employment, which makes it harder to leave the job.
Also most tech companies provide 30 days paid leave. Free Now at the time of my hiring offered roundabout 27 days plus having a day off on your birthday. When I asked if I could simply have 28 days off, rather than having to be off on my birthday, the refused. And this sums up Free Now pretty well - instead of just giving you the standard 30 days off and let you decide when to use them, they give you 27 days plus your birthday and present it as some sort of generosity, when in reality it is actually below industry standard.
Image
Free Now puts a lot of money into image campaigns and employer branding, so I guess their image is quite good