Highly toxic environment - Manager Stein IAS Employee Review

1.0
2 Feb 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

People outside of senior management who make it bearable.

Cons

Unfortunately this company has a toxic culture with untrustworthy and manipulative leadership, with extremely outdated morals. It is now a cut throat place to work meaning that staff feel constantly on edge, with leaders providing a lot of false promises and ‘we are the best’ attitudes which simply do not match reality. Sadly the place has lost all of the fun and excitement it once had. Low pay (always behind the curve on what people should actually be on, with no pay rises or bonuses for years on end due to never hitting targets) and a constant expectation to be ‘proving yourself’ for zero recognition. A culture of bullying and gossip that has been bred by senior managers behaviour. If you hand in your notice you will simply get ignored (by one narcissistic senior leader in particular) until you leave. Many get ‘managed out’ via manipulation from the senior team, setting people up to fail and putting in place completely unachievable ‘goals’ that are impossible meet, so they can then build up a case against you. So many leaving under NDA says a lot. When you are out and in a normal, healthy working environment do you realise how bizarre this culture is. HR are extremely unprofessional - I ended up finding out much more than I should and witnessed some appalling HR conduct that they got away with, that should be questioned (majority of it is just dictated by senior management).

Explore other reviews about Stein IAS

5.0
24 Jan 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

people, people, people. Especially SF office

Cons

lots of rushing. Lacks communication in times of craziness. A US v Europe mentality

3
1.0
11 Feb 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Benefits are standard, but no meaningful positives.

Cons

Top-heavy, unstable, chaotic, and chronically unstructured. Easily the worst place I've ever worked. If you're eager to work at a company where burnout is the baseline, support is nonexistent, and you can be dropped in seconds without warning, this is the perfect place. Employee confidence, morale, and comradery sit at rock bottom. Priorities shift daily, expectations constantly move out of reach, and resources never follow. The reward for having zero work-life balance is simply.. more work. Guidance from leadership is practically zero while pressure is constant. Processes are non-existent or change day-to-day. There's no onboarding, constructive communication, and there's even less feedback. The odds are set against you from day one. People are left to fend for themselves, then blamed or gossiped about or judged when inevitable gaps appear and they "failed" to read the minds of management. Everyone operates in survival mode, bracing for the next fire drill and working long hours. Turnover is also relentless and sky high, an ever-churning revolving door. People disappear or are laid off with little to no explanation, hired and gone within 3-6 months, only for the same roles to be reposted and publicly advertised as "exciting growth and momentum" alongside some random, vague agency awards they somehow keep winning. And this burdens already squeezed teams. It's clear there is a lack of planning across operations and leadership because this is an outright insane pattern that does nothing but harm your internal structure and culture.

6
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