Toxic culture with lousy senior management team - Anonymous employee DFI Retail Group Employee Review

1.0
16 Jan 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

At least there is aws.

Cons

HR lacks integrity and professionalism. Judgemental to the core. No confidential information goes protected in HR. If you want the whole world to know a secret, tell HR and the PAs there. They will do the job for you. The new HR team is no better. Too eager to please the new CEO so if something is unfair and to the CEO’s advantage and liking, expect it to continue to be unfair. The most toxic and unprofessional HR of the century. Management and staff there are outdated. Lots of paperwork and unnecessary rework. Management is too out of touch and not IT savvy to understand technology and processes. Let alone handle systems to improve the infrastructure. If anything goes wrong, it is always other people at fault other than their poor management and ignorance. People are cleaning up the mess they created themselves everyday, and refusing to accept new ideas. Irrelevant people pushing relevant people out of the door and faulting them for being relevant. In order to get basic work done, you have to beg people to do their own job so you can do yours. Best part is management allows this kind of working culture even though several feedback and incidences are reported. Management even tells staff to accept the toxic working culture because all they think of is revenue over people, quantity over quality. So if you don’t need to be respected as a decent human, this is the place for you. People working there are selfish and only care about their own rice bowls. If killing is not illegal, they will do so in order to save their own skin. Lots of backstabbing and politics. Join at your risk unless you can act like the bullies and be a bigger bully than them. If not, you have to take in all the nonsenses and let them step on you. And one thing, make sure people don’t shove work to you. Expecting your direct report to help you is useless because they are too busy saving their own skin rather than care about the welfare of their own staff. Management are too full of themselves and micromanage you to death. HK and SG offices have the worse lot of people. CEO has personal chauffeur. Company pays for big car and personal chauffeur but on the other hand talks about cost savings. Management takes compulsory money from working level to pay for D&D but management goes for free. Office seating is open concept. Even CEO in HK and SG do not have an office. They sit in open cubicles. Reason given is to encourage open communication of all levels. Don’t be deceived when they tell you their cubicle is always opened. When staff approached them in the open cubicle to have a discussion, they feel their authority is being challenged. Culture is still very hierarchy. If they feel your level is too Low for them, good luck to you for trying to get your discussion across. The open concept is just another excuse to make it easier for them to peep into employees screens and then judge them if they are really doing their jobs or not. Seats are so cramped you can’t even push a chair in. You have to carry it over the table to put the chair in. Probation is 6 months and notice period is 3 months starting from the lowest tier executive level and above. Think thrice before signing the employment contract. It’s a 5.5 days work week just that they condense the working hours within 5 work days by extending the working hours per day. Squeezing every second and minutes they can. If not they shove more work to you if they feel you don’t look loaded. Anyway, HR is there to peep into your screen to make up stories whether they feel you are working or not. Seriously.

Explore other reviews about DFI Retail Group

4.0
8 July 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

open for ideas and suggestions

Cons

tight project schedule and unrealistic deadline

avatar
DFI Retail Group Response
4y
Thank you for your time to leave us a review. It's encouraging to hear that you experienced an open and supportive work culture while working in the company. In reference to your comment on project schedule and timeline, we understand that it's not always perfect and there's always room for us to further improve to provide a positive and balanced work experience for our team members. Thank you for your contribution and we wish you best of luck in your next career journey.
3.0
12 Sept 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some of the best managers

Cons

Generally low skill and low tech

avatar
DFI Retail Group Response
8mo
Thank you for sharing your experience at DFI Retail Group. We’re pleased to hear that you had the opportunity to work with some outstanding managers — strong leadership is something we truly value and are committed to invest in. We understand your concerns around skill levels and technology, and based on that feedback, in recent years we've taken a proactive approach in rolling out various upskilling initiatives and digital transformation to better equip our teams and modernise our ways of working. Your feedback is appreciated and helps us identify areas for growth. Thank you again for your contributions during your time with us.
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