Toxic and exploitative work environment - Manager Centre for Social Innovation Employee Review

Upper management is run like a cult of personality. Dissent is not just unwelcome, it is punished. Workers who express critical opinions are branded as troublemakers and once this happens they will find it hard to achieve any sort of progress within the organization -- both in terms of their career advancement and in terms of advancing ideas to improve the organization. On top of all of this, there are organizational pressures to be available outside of working hours, especially when it comes to social events like staff parties and retreats. Not everyone feels safe at these events, in part because of the heavy drinking that occurs. Calls for healthy, professional boundaries are often met with derision -- after all, one of the team's core value is that we "ride or die together," a value that can easily be mobilized to stifle dissent.