Great Software - Bad Company Culture - Anonymous employee InstaLOD Employee Review

I would like to clarify upfront that I do not want to do any harm to the company or restrict the hiring rate. Quite the opposite, I want to help improve the company culture by bringing forth my issues so that we can, hopefully, make InstaLOD a more friendly and open environment to work in. I hope to keep this as constructive as possible. With that said, here are my contras: Unfortunately, there is quite a toxic/tense environment in the office, where you are not really able to mentally relax properly. My experience at other companies was great in that regard. At InstaLOD it feels very tense as you don't want to say something "wrong" that could make management mad, therefore, you rather not speak at all. Saying the wrong thing (even just feedback or your opinion) can get you in trouble, depending on the topic you give feedback on) and they don't even hide that fact. "Your opinion doesn't matter" is quite literally what the CEO said in one of the monthly stand-up meetings. Whilst, to some degree, I do agree that my opinion in software development doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things, the feedback of an employee to e.g. an algorithm, should not trigger a raging burst of anger from the CEO and cause that employee to receive a warning email from HR and almost get fired (the walls are thin and doors are left open - you hear a lot throughout the entire office). Unfortunately, you can't seem to trust anyone in HR or Sales, and it ultimately leaves you trying to keep your distance, because you have the feeling any interaction with someone from the head department could leave you back-stabbed. Additionally, you frequently overhear people from HR and even the CEO talking bad about other employees, or making fun of them, and they don't even try to do it quietly, considering that the office is a long hallway with two bathrooms at the end of the office, so everyone walks past their room at least once a day, able to overhear a bunch of stuff. Once that employee they talk bad about, then enters the room, they act as if nothing happened, proving that it isn't even an actual issue that they want to discuss. They just want to trash-talk. Not a great environment to feel welcome in. Overall, it just seems like the company is segregated into small subgroups with hardly anyone interacting with one another, other than a short "hey" and "guten" in the kitchen. Other issues that cross my mind are the following: - No constant cleaning lady (need to clean bathroom ourselves every other month) - The company acts as if 25 days of holiday are a godsend, whereas 30days are actually the default in Germany. - The head department would make some employees feel bad about themselves throughout the COVID pandemic for working from home, even though the German state was trying to get everyone to stay home and work from home every day of the week. - We were one of the first companies to go into quaranteen at the beginning of 2019 which is fantastic, and our CEO was a great role-model in that regard. I only wish the head-department would have kept this role-model-like behaviour when the 2nd wave came to Germany. Instead, we were sent to the office even when the state told everyone to stay at home again. Only at the point where it was basically illegal by law, were we allowed to work from home. In Germany, it is common to stay at home for up to 2 days if you get sick, so that you can recover and get back to work ASAP. If you are still ill after the second day, you need to go to the doctors to get a certificate to basically prove to your employer that you need X-amount of additional days off. This is normal in pretty much every company I have heard of, and asking friends and family has proven this to be true for everyone I have asked. At InstaLOD we never had 2 days to recover without having to leave the house. It was always 1 day. Recently they changed it where you can't even rest a single day to try and recover. You need to get out on the same day, no matter your condition, to get that piece of paper for HR. On the topic of "appreciation" - If a client visits us in the office, the CEO raves about how amazing his team is and how unique and special each and every employee is. In the everyday life we don't notice much of this nor do we get compensated accordingly, considering my salary, and the fact that we get no Christmas money, no paid overtime and no other way to increase earnings. Finally, I don't see many options to "move up" in the company. If you were to ask me now "where do you see yourself in 10 years at InstaLOD" I would have to say "The exact same place I am right now" which is kind of depressing.