Harmful culture, toxic environment - Anonymous employee AACR Employee Review

All of the cons people listed below are true. The AACR is a toxic and harmful environment that is run by fear, intimidation, and with no trust in or care for its employees. The response to the pandemic and the push to return to the office was unnecessary and outdated. The leadership “listened” to the concerns raised by numerous employees and ultimately denied everyone’s exemption requests to continue to work from home citing the need for collaboration and that there is no work from home policy - despite successfully doing so for almost 2 years. After we DID return to the office, I could count the number of times on one hand that I had a face-to-face chat or meeting. Every meeting was still on Teams and people’s cameras remained off. The morale is so low. However, the AACR has been a toxic environment long before the pandemic and it starts with and continues to be so because of the CEO. She exhibits favoritism toward certain employees - mainly men. She regularly gossips and speaks poorly of certain employees and external stakeholders. She runs the place through fear, intimidation, and manipulation. It is her way or no way. She says completely inappropriate things which I am shocked haven’t caused lawsuits. She micromanages down to even the smallest task causing significant bottlenecks to any process or progress and then it is usually blamed on employees anyway. Her style only trickles down to her senior leadership who are not empowered and defer to her. There is no investment in employees. There are no opportunities for professional development, growth, or education. There is an external mission of the organization but there are no internal core values. This is a scientific organization and that aspect of the organization should be led by a Chief Scientific/Medical Officer with a qualified scientific background and not at the whim of senior leadership who often make appointments through popularity or status. Technology, record keeping, and marketing need a major overhaul. Systems and approaches are archaic. It is impossible to discuss any of this with the HR department who may be the most biased and gossipy department of all. They are a reflection of the organization’s discriminatory practices. I’ve been more valued and appreciated in my new position since I started there than my entire time at AACR.