Company needs serious culture change - Anonymous employee Booktopia Employee Review

2.0
Oct 15, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people working in the company. Not too much politics between staff. Not many work lots of extra hours. Working from home is very rare and just for senior management. Famous celebrities come to visit and sign books and you can meet them. Free parking (but there isn’t other parking nearby and it is 25 minutes walk in not safe streets from closest train and no buses so you have to drive.) Interesting company to work for and lots of growth.

Cons

Management often seem to be in chaos. They change strategy with a day notice and scared to try anything new. No communication about what is happening within the company and no meetings or no opportunity to ask. No strategic plan or long term goals. “Values” got put on all the computer backgrounds but it doesn’t explain anything. Lots of good people keep leaving. You can’t always do your job because everything is so restricted on computers - even stuff you need to do your job. No access to the wifi unless you are family, no laptops or ability to move around for meetings or quiet working. Management is pretty much all white males in their 50s. 8-16 men (depends how many levels of management you count ) to 2 women. CEO, Board, Senior Management, Operations are all male. One lady who ran the warehouse but she got replaced by another white guy and the other lady in marketing. There is a new HR strategy to “fix” the problems in the company but they can’t keep anyone in the HR position for more than a few months. In last 12 months, there have been at least 3 HR managers plus the other people who have filled in. Now the CEOs assistant is running HR. Only event you go to is a bbq in the warehouse sitting on pallets or boxes to eat sausage sandwiches. Senior management are desperately trying to make the company seem “cool” and a good place to work, but they are going about it the wrong way. Lots of promises of activities and "engagement programs"... So much nepotism across the whole company. Can make many things very tricky if you aren’t family because you don’t know who is related to who and means there is no chance of promotion because no one leaves. Be prepared for weird complaining emails with photos of paper on the floor of the bathrooms sent to the whole company too. Other glass door reviews say there are “innovation days” in IT. Must just be for them because they aren’t anywhere else in the company. Agree with most of the other negative reviews. (Don't know all the specifics of the IT department but the general comments are right.)

Explore other reviews about Booktopia

5.0
Aug 27, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible hours, great co-workers, working with new books

Cons

The only con would be the company closed.

4.0
Oct 18, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people, friendly atmosphere, awesome CEO & COO. Booktopia has people working for it who really care about books and can teach you so much about the industry. There is always an opportunity to grow within your role. I really enjoyed my time there.

Cons

Lidcombe can tricky to get to if you live on the other side of town, but parking is provided.

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