Very Old School - Accounts Payable Daniels Employee Review

Finance management are extremely totalitarian. Their old school values harm the team more than uplift it. Unfortunately due to the job market employees have little to leverage against this. Coming from a modern team the following is some reprimands & habits I found ridiculous: - Being reprimanded for booking a meeting room for 20 mins. Their basis was that there are limited rooms and I don't have a reason to book them. This felt unnecessarily punitive as there were more than enough empty meeting rooms. - During the interview and through the recruitment agency, I was told the role was hybrid 4 days in office. On my first day I was told this was only applicable after my probation ended**, meaning I had to be in the office five days a week. This was frustrating, especially since I previously worked a 3-day WFH model. The lie/omission contributed to early burnout within the 1st month. -My employment contract did not explicitly outline a probation period of 6 months (which the manager claimed I was subject to) Therefore, as per Employment Standards Act, I was under a 3 month probation, this miscommunication between Finance and recruitment led to further frustrating the burnout and creating uncertainty in my role. - This may be acceptable to some however, I found it disrespectful that the manager would yell from her office to summon people in her office like servants which felt demeaning. Teams exists, but perhaps she’s too old school to use it. I observed a noticeable shift in how colleagues responded to her behavior. When she would yell from her office to summon staff, conversations would abruptly end, and employees would visibly tense up. Several team members showed clear signs of anxiety like shaky hands, nervous voices, and hesitant movements. This kind of environment fosters fear, not respect, and creates psychological safety. - I had called in sick, another employee was on maternity leave. Despite this, we were both called to a training meeting. My role is entitled to job-protected time off for personal illness, injury, or medical emergency under the Employment Standards Act so not accommodating the training was unprofessional further by the fact that it was all verbal and no materials were shown/provided. Essentially a pointless call. ----- I should also add the manager emailed me her personal! cell number since she was unaware?? I could join the Teams meeting. It’s baffling that she oversees an entire department. Her assistant deserves immense praise for managing so much on her behalf. - Not reasonably flexible for employees. I had quite the commute and would have preferred coming in 8:30-4:30 as opposed to 9-5. This GRAND change was denied as the other manager preferred 9-5 to "connect with the team". This would have been understandable if not for the irony that my direct supervisor worked 7-3. This denial felt less about operational necessity and more about enforcing uniformity, which ultimately impacted morale and work-life balance. - This company is a real estate developer and they did not think that putting a residential building right across the office would lead to unsightly and highly inappropriate views for the employees. We saw a couple being explicitly intimate from their genius building design. Additionally an IT member made highly inappropriate and explicit comments about a woman in the apartment across in her undergarments to the other male employees (ex. How do you get any work done with that view?, you guys get a free show) about her appearance making me uncomfortable. - Micromanagement from the dynamic duo of these managers was astounding. Despite being a salaried employee, I was required to check in and out daily like a child. Just one week into the role, one manager pulled me aside and gave vague, unstructured feedback to “do more” and “help my supervisor.” When I asked for clarification, she responded with a look of disgust that made it clear further questions were unwelcome. This discouraged me from seeking clarity and left me feeling like I was expected to interpret nonsensical instructions and somehow create a demand that didn’t exist. Felt more like an intimidation to find busy work rather than advice for productivity. - A superficial con but valid con in that for a company that develops multi-million dollar projects and demands employees be in-office 4–5 days a week, it’s surprising how little is invested in basic workplace comfort. There are no snacks, no sanitary products, no beverages (not even almond milk for coffee). This just reflects a lack of consideration for employee wellbeing. When you're asking people to show up, contribute to complex projects, and maintain high performance, the absence of even minimal perks sends a message that employee experience isn’t a priority.