work culture: It is very dysfunctional. Almost all of the senior positions are held by relatives or close friends of the CEO, which makes it feel very much like a family business and all the junior employees are mere disposable slaves. And they are treated that way. If you have an issue there is no where to go to find a resolution.
Job security: Very, very poor. The men in authority are very impulsive, emotional decision-makers. This does not account for reliable leadership. I have seen colleagues make minor mistakes that led these "bosses" get outraged and fired them. Mistakes are to be corrected. No one can be correct 100% of the times! the environment is very high pressure for all the wrong reasons.
The pay is very well below the industry average, with no employee benefits, the company keeps things very ambiguous and uses it to their advantage. Eg. there is no mention of a leave policy, no comp offs, and you are not allowed to discuss work timings. They are very comfortable in asking the junior employees to work late nights, on holidays, and this has no effect on your performance in their eyes. This brings me to my next point.
Appraisals: This is a joke. Our compensation plan is so meticulously structured with two biannual bonuses, which are very conveniently called performance-based, but even after you give your 100% hoping to get recognized, the appraisals are notoriously pushed forward. I didn't get that bonus, none of my colleagues had ever gotten that bonus.
Learning: The work you will be given will rarely ever be related to the job description you read when you applied. I had to work for months on clerical data entry-like work before I got some (very little) work for what i was hired for. I did not learn anything valuable in my time here and my relevant skills took a hit since for months I was overburdened with unrelated work and left me with no time and energy to keep learning/practicing on the side.
Work-life balance: None. No one cares about your life outside the office. I do not understand how these men are so comfortable making us work such long hours, Saturdays are working btw, you get one day to relax but that will also get consumed many times.
TL;DR : If you are a junior, just starting out or at an early phase of your career, they might seem quite welcoming. But I would suggest wait a little longer, upskill yourself, build a network and go to some other place. This is not going to be a learning or earning experience, you will not get mentored, and worse, they have a history of badmouthing their past employees, so getting another job will be 10x harder. This job would only prove to be a setback in your career as it has proven to be in mine and many of my colleagues.
IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED AN OFFER FROM XELP, REJECT IT AND GO ANYYY PLACE ELSE.
Also, all (and I mean ALL) the newer positive reviews here are from the management and HR, since the karmic boomerang is finally coming back to hurt them and they are paranoid.