In my opinion and personal experience:
- Accountability in senior leadership is limited, with mistakes often brushed aside rather than acknowledged and learned from
- The culture is gender-biased and not equal. Recognition and career progression often goes to those who ‘fit in’ with management or are regulars at the pub every Thursday
- High performers are rewarded with more work, whilst some are praised for doing bare minimum
- Favouritism and cliques are obvious, where some celebrated, others are ignored. In my experience, questioning decisions risks being cast out and as soon as you hand in your notice, any good contribution you’ve made is quickly forgotten
- Inappropriate comments, especially around women, are often dismissed as humour
- HR focus more on protecting the company than on employees. In my experience, confidentiality was used more to shut things down than support employees
- Communication is poor and usually limited to damage control around high employee turnover, rather than being transparent