Pros
Coworkers— the team is truly amazing and will have your back through everything good days and bad, and it’s mostly bad.
Cons
There’s a major “Us versus Them” problem in management and the rest of the team. There are very rarely team meetings, and people are frequently told any questions or criticisms of anything should be taken up behind closed doors. Management refuses to meet the needs of employees, often making a hassle of approving PTO, in/out times, birthday celebrations, and stretching emotional bandwidth. Employees speaking to each other is strongly discouraged and often disregarded as gossip/negativity. You are not part of a collaborative environment or effort, only there to service a need that management wants met, any time initiative is taken or anything is suggested, employees are shot down and scolded. In my opinion, the more I gave, the more I was taken advantage of. I offered to stay later to ensure deadlines were met, and then it became expected, and when I declined, it was used as a reason to not raise my pay. I became very efficient and knowledgeable about the ins and outs of my position, and it became expected that I would head the department and my job duties and responsibilities would expand without a title bump or a pay increase. The more potential you show, the more they will squeeze out of you, and when you have nothing left, there will be no support for burnout. The only time you have interactions with management will be for criticism, never encouragement. The only times my diligence, understanding, and productivity were acknowledged, were in times I had one foot out the door. The owner is very harsh, and often crosses the line between being an exacting boss and being disrespectful or belittling. When this is brought up to management, they say that since she’s the owner, there’s no recourse for her behavior. I was told that speaking with her was a “test of my emotional bandwidth” and after setting boundaries and sticking up for myself while she accused me of lying and being ineffective at my job, I was denied a raise until the relationship improved. There will be about two to three good months, and then about a month or two of terrible, draining time spent in this environment. The only person in the workplace to report any problems to has a major conflict of interest for creating real change. When a problem has been brought to management, they express to you that you’re not being forced to work there, implying that things are not going to change.