6y
Good evening, if you feel that you have depression, talk to people you trust about it. There are many people in your life that care for you and would be there in a heartbeat to help you. If you made the foregoing quip for satirical and melodramatic effect, glamorizing depression in the way you did isn’t a joking matter as many people are affected by it. To the main points of your review, your hyperbole is probably clear to most but I will address a few things anyway. Regarding pay, for over the last six months tbk has publicly listed what it actually pays almost every posted position right on its Careers page (…/Careers). That’s how confident tbk is in what it pays its staff members. It’s not to say that you couldn’t have earned more money elsewhere for your particular position as there are a lot of factors that go into someone’s pay; albeit, the “work for half of” market value is a stretch. The neat thing about pay is there are economic forces that influence it: e.g., if a company is underpaying its staff, the underpaid staff end up eventually leaving so in the end it isn’t a viable long-term practice by any employer. That’s the basic premise behind a free market. And tbk listing what it pays its positions actually helps the employee job market as it provides more data intelligence to employees—not only helping a prospective team member choose if they wish to apply at tbk, but could give them information as to if they feel they are accurately paid in an incumbent position they may have at a current different employer. And I’ve even had a director at one of London’s largest employers reach out to me recently to inquire about our method of posting pay as he is now considering introducing the same procedure in his department. This gesture that tbk is popularizing in the region actually helps London's job market which might even result in people on this website who are looking for their next job to successfully negotiate better pay (it doesn’t hurt to know what other employers pay, right?). In terms of the door being locked, “zero communication with staff members” while leadership is on vacas, etc.: Melissa McInerney, tbk’s CEO and who I started tbk with, and I have worked at tbk for over 10 years. This length of tenure would entitle us to 4 weeks annual vacation (more if we consider our overall career tenures). In the last 12 months her and I have taken a total of about two weeks of vacation each. And there probably wasn’t a single day on any of those vacations that Melissa and I weren’t in touch with the team members. tbk's other leadership team members are also very responsive, care for, and go out of their way for staff. Painting the contours that leadership is frequently on vacations and negligent to staff; you being fifty-percent underpaid; needing to work overtime after the door was locked, etc. is nefarious and a dimension’s throw away from reality. Don’t get me wrong, I wish to take more time off in the future, but what you wrote is fallacious. Please consider this: Not all corporate positions work out and it's much like dating. It’s easy to be bitter when the relationship doesn’t work out; the key is to move on quickly and try to find the partner that gives you the zest and zeal that you’re searching for (and self-improve as you go; relationships are a two-way street). You’ll be happiest this way. - Andrew Schiestel, President, tbk
