If you are reading this then I can only assume you are likely looking at this company and wondering whether to apply for a position. I highly advise against this. This is not a new company. It has been around for over 12 years but recently changed its name to Digital Moment. Why? It was never clear. Please go look at the glass door reviews for their previous name, which was Kids Code Jeunesse.
I can only describe my experience and the experience of my colleagues, which was filled with psychological and emotional abuse from upper management. Gaslighting was a prominent occurrence as well. In a meeting with HR, a colleague was told that their complaints were only felt by them and no one else at the company felt the same way as them (which was false). The also said that my colleague should re-evaluate whether or not they’re a good fit for the company and maybe should leave if they are unhappy. This is pretty alarming coming from HR who should be there to support everyone at the company.
Upper management didn’t seem to care about keeping senior employees at the company and followed many typical techniques highlighted in articles about “quiet firing” including but not limited to: stalled promotion and advancement, halting of new tasks and projects, backtracking on promises, lack of support from management, and overworking employees. There was also a general lack of empathy and compassion in communication when decisions were made in the company.
There’s been at least one re-organization every year. People are constantly being moved to new positions and new teams but not given proper training or support to thrive in this new position. Myself and others often were overly stressed in new positions and were given superiors who weren’t qualified to help and give guidance. This is very isolating and increases the stress in a new position. When we voiced that we need help, support, and managers that actually know what we do and we can learn from, we were ignored and told to look for professional courses to take (which they wouldn’t pay for) or go to conferences about the field we’re in.
We were often told by upper management to be team players when we voice concerns about being overworked (and taking on work from others who aren’t stepping up). But when we want to take on other important and valuable work that would improve our own well-being and help the company then we’re told to “stay in our lane”. This makes zero sense and shows that they make the decisions that benefit themselves. Often lower level workers were the ones supporting each other if they needed help and we would be scolded and told that’s not our job and we have other responsibilities, yet upper management won’t give support to people that needed help in the first place. So it’s a very confusing system. Upper management will often take away meaningful work from their employees and hire consultants and contractors instead to do the work. When asked why they choose contractors over their own employees who know the content and audience, they said that employees are a liability because they leave the company which leaves a gap but consultants and contractors are here forever and don’t leave. Oops. That’s not great and they don’t seem to be focused on solving the issues of why employees are leaving disgruntled.
Upper management will often make decisions behind closed doors without consulting with others at the company who can help and give insight into the needs of the audience and lower level workers at the company. This leads to an almost tyrannical system with lower level workers suffering and trying to meet grant goals with little support from upper management who were the ones who agreed on the goals of the grant in the first place. To “solve” this issue they will often hire new people to take on a grant which has already caused senior workers at the company to quit or refuse to work on it without the necessary support. New hires are unaware of the mountain they’ve been given and have been known to quit from the stress of some projects.
I would advise that you also look at the evidence which anyone can see from the outside that this company is not all they say they are. I’ll highlight it below:
- If you interview with this company ask about what their average turnover rate is. From the years of 2019-2022 there was a mass exodus of people from the company (most, if not all were lower level workers). Same complaints were made and similar systemic issues in the company made these people leave. Upper management has admitted that they have known about the systematic issues over the years, yet failed to comment on why they haven’t moved to solve or address these issues and from the perspective of the workers, not much is being done to solve these issues.
The upper management team has stayed fairly constant throughout these years. There’s a glass ceiling at this company which has prevented most lower level workers to not be able to move up to director levels though they are qualified to do so. Instead, DM will hire others from outside the company with the same experience as said persons. Why wouldn’t you promote someone internally who knows the team, audience, and programs we offer?
There have also been more than 4 different HR personnel in the last 4 years. At one point, the CEO took on HR duties while we were trying to hire a new one. Red flag.
- This company believes in inclusive education and uplifting minorities yet take a look at their team page, which is filled with caucasian people. POC eventually leave and don’t feel safe to speak up about issues at the company. There are many women working at the company which is great but it stops there.
DM is a charity that promotes digital skills education to all canadian youth and educators. Look up each person in upper management on linkedIn. Not one of them has digital skills, education, or coding experience. Yet they are making decisions about the company, how to teach youth, what grants to take on, etc. without taking into account the expertise of the lower workers who consist of educators, coders, and people with science backgrounds.
Ask DM how much importance they put into their instructors (who deliver the product, which are the coding workshops) and the communication and marketing team. Both teams are treated with very little respect and we’ve seen many good people leave from both teams. DM doesn’t put much importance in supporting the mental well being of instructors since we changed to giving virtual workshops since Covid. They also don’t put much importance in the marketing and communications team. This was the most productive and well oiled team at the company until upper management decided to practice quiet firing with many of the members to take away authority from them. That team upheld a high level of brand consistency and rich communication with the audience. When all members left, the team consisted of two employees that had very little experience in communications/marketing and had to hold up a team that used to consist of 5 individuals and weren’t even given a manager that had comms/marketing/crm background. Not a great situation. Check out the social media accounts for Digital Moment, Digital 2030, Kids Code Jeunesse. Digital Moment and Digital 2030 don’t have much consistency.
- On all the websites under Digital Moment you will see a land acknowledgement. Ask about what they do to specifically raise up indigenous peoples of Canada and see what their answer is. I can tell you that very little has been done. Once there was a truth and reconciliation workshop done but it was just a box to tick off to say they did it. There were no follow up meetings, no further discussion on the matter.
- DM believes in uplifting communities and promoting inclusive education to the public yet they:
- Won’t pay for the profession development of their employees
- Won’t train employees that move to a new position or are new hires
- Have long periods of time (months to years) where employees will have no superiors who can mentor them or give guidance and grow in their position.
If after reading this then you still want to be at this company then I wish you the best of luck and hope your situation is different!
