I’d like to start with one thing: This is one of the most terrible places I have worked at.
Right when I started I noticed that everybody working at this company looked sad, and exhausted most days of the week. Any effort of the company’s owner to cheer the team up right before morning meetings always failed, and I started to wonder why. I figured quickly.
The pay is so little compared to other companies that maintaining a happy life style in Toronto is impossible. This is why the company usually hires cheap labor to keep costs low. Benefits are so little, that you can get almost nothing done. It’s a joke. Maybe the company owners could try less “rock n roll”, and start appreciating their employees and pay them better? This way they could probably also avoid the high turn-around of staff.
But this is not the only thing that is wrong in this company. The owners are also unable to build any kind of trust or cohesion between their employees. There is no company culture. People generally do not talk to each other. Anytime I tried to have a normal conversation with a colleague for 5-10 minutes, the owner would immediately try to shut the conversation up by giving odd looks or jumping in and talking about something work related.
The thing is: they always monitor, or criticize you. They clearly do not trust their employees. And because they don’t, they never share information with you. When a colleague quits, clients are told that colleagues are taken off projects to bring in more senior members to take care of their failing projects…
Due to these structural internal issues, clients are continuously disappointed. Empty promises are the norm as there is no effort on the side of the management to understand the needs of the clients. Due to these unrealistic promises and timelines, employees continue to put a lot of extra time in, while getting no over-time pay. It’s a vicious circle. The pizza nights and beer meetings do not make-up for anything you go through.
On top of that, the office is dirty and dusty. Again, they are saving money by refusing to hire cleaning staff. The whole thing about un-limited vacation time and flexibility is yet another fairytale they tell you.
Overall, don’t waste your time with this company, you are better off elsewhere. Little pay, almost no benefits, mind games, and no room for growth is what you will get at mess-md.
