If you are looking for an everlasting startup phase company, you found your match!
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
- flexibility ( hybrid office policy)
- room to learn and do multiple things, try roles outside your scope of work
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
- unfairness
- communication
- image
Verbesserungsvorschläge
- Reevaluate people in charge- firing people who actually make a difference on the lower levels with lowes salaries, might not be the best approach while you pay a lot more to directors and higher level management to simply "attend meetings".
- When things are going so badly, it's the to take a good look in the mirror. People should not be blamed for decisions taken by their superiors. C-level changes would be worth it at this point.
-Communication training- there is a better way to deal with difficult news and updates. Engage in honesty and transparency.
- After so many layoff rounds the company lost a lot of talent, revise the hiring policies.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The atmosphere at work is "fine". It all depends on the people you work with. There are a lot of startup-like initiatives, free beers on Thursday and "friendly" relations with your superiors. However, the C-level and management brings up negative energy in time of crisis. The hard questions are being cut on Allhands meetings, and CEO's comments always revolve around "questions not being respectful" when people are simply asking for more honesty. After multiple layoffs within the past 6 months, people are scared to lose their job and motivation and morale are dead. On the plus side company still offers a hybrid office policy, but this is also for savings reasons- they overhired and would not be able to fit all the people in shrinking office space.
Kommunikation
The official communication and narration level has been deteriorating for the past years. It's a classic example of a startup that knows how to celebrate the good things- funding rounds, acquisitions, new city launches, etc. However, when it comes to processing bad news or difficult news, the management is dishonest and closed off. This culture of fear and lies is passed down to middle management, who in most cases are inexperienced to be proper leaders. This results in misleading communication and gossip culture. A lot of fakenesses in this one. On the bright side, teammates are supportive of each other and openly share their thoughts in smaller groups.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
The co-worker's relationship level depends on the team and department. There were teams that were well-balanced and equal up to the head level, but the majority consists of inexperienced leads and non-diverse teams, where more depends on your personal relationship with your superiors rather than your work outputs. Especially it shows in the past months when the layoff decisions are being made and less-productive, easy-to-manipulate employees are left in posts while people with potential are being fired.
Work-Life-Balance
Regardless of the situation, you are expected to put in extra time for relatively low pay without paid overtime justified for the past four years that this is a startup spirit. Officially company offers access to partially paid "sports apps" or mental health apps and a hybrid office model. The "rush" culture is still very present and the hierarchical system affects the mental state of the employees.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
The majority of the leaders ( C-level, heads, directors VP and leads) do not have proper leadership experience or do not practice self-development in this area. The C-level is built mostly from male, middle-aged people, with little to no diversity. the situation on lower levels is not better. A lot of higher management positions were given to people who started in the company "in the early days" despite them not being considered a good fit for people leads. At this point, there are more "leads" and "directors" whose job is to attend the meetings, rather than people who actually do the work. In some cases, the leads and department directors credit themselves with their teammate's ideas and accomplishments. There were some exceptions and great leaders who try being honest and open with the teams, but usually, they fail to get any updates from higher levels. Generally, the company policy is to not comment on bad things, lie and give minimal explanations for their decisions.
Interessante Aufgaben
Depending on your department. There is a lot to do, since the company never progressed from the "startup mindset", so it's definitely a place for people who like wearing a lot of different hats at work. You might be given huge tasks and projects from day one with no explanation, simply as a result of the sudden firing of the last person working on it. There is room to learn a lot of things in a short time, but without fair compensation for the amount of work.
Gleichberechtigung
Another example of a company that openly brags about diversity and openness, while leaving the C-level and Vp positions to the majority of men while filling in the quota with lower-level female employees. A lot of sexist and misogynist behaviours are treated as an "innocent joke" and outspoken and confident women are sidetracked or removed. There are departments where all the male leaders are on a level higher than their email peers.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
The company is quite "young", so it's hard to judge. Middle-aged, higher-level management is usually unapproachable and dismissive.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Wework Offices are a nice touch, but again the credit goes to Wework and not TIER. The work laptops are not easy to exchange. The company put a lot of budget into office spaces that are not used due to the hybrid work set-up with the cost of employees' layoffs. There is a substantial difference between office staff and workshop staff, the benefits and conditions are definitely not equal.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
The company is openly claiming to be environmentally friendly and puts a lot of effort into this branding. On the business level, it's true and the goal is to reshape mobility, but good intentions and social media posts are not enough to actually create a change. There are a lot of bad decisions made when it comes to hardware selection, the company is focused on the low cost which doesn't go in line with the CEO's wishes for environmentally friendly gear. There is a classic disproportion between the founder's dream and reality.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
The salaries are from the beginning low, with some exceptions. The company offered the same entry salaries for managers since the beginning. The disproportion begins usually on director levels. In cases where the salaries must be matched between same-level employees, some questionable decisions are being made, eg. removing the "problematic" employee. There are some benefits, like company shares ( not worth it at the moment and used as a justification for lower salaries/ promotions), access to extra apps (sport, mental health) or "fruit basket" and free beer.
Image
Currently, the public perception of the company is deteriorating, with the users, partners and suppliers. The acquisition of Nextbike is one of the positive things for brand recognition. However constant lies, increasing the numbers with the cost of layoffs and egocentric management perception do not help the image.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
There are limited opportunities to grow into VP/ C-level within the company. The heads and directors positions are tasked by the "network" of early joiners and any competition is being removed recently with the excuse of economic crisis.