Delegation Without Leadership or Accountability - Anonymous employee Neighborly® Employee Review

My experience at Neighborly has been largely defined by poor leadership practices, lack of structure, and unhealthy delegation patterns. Within marketing, projects that clearly fall under Head of Marketing or Director-level responsibilities are routinely handed down to Specialists, especially after teams were downsized and the Brand Marketing Manager role was eliminated. We were frequently assigned work that fell outside our job description. Instead of stepping into the responsibilities required of their own roles, leadership delegates those tasks downward and expects lower-level employees to carry the workload without recognition, while they take the credit and receive promotions based on our efforts. A recurring issue is last-minute assignments. We often receive “urgent” projects due by the end of the day or within two days, only to later learn that leadership had received the original request weeks earlier and simply had not completed it. Large, strategic initiatives then become rush jobs for the team, who are expected to finish them in one to three days. This happens often and creates unnecessary stress, rework, and poor planning practices. There is very little room for growth or advancement. Despite consistently strong performance reviews and repeatedly expressing interest in moving into a manager role, I was given no clear path forward and no valid explanation for why I was not being considered. Instead, I was told to gain more “visibility,” take on additional projects, and continue proving my worth even though I was already taking on responsibilities far beyond my title and contributing significantly to team outcomes. This created a pattern of gaslighting and dangling opportunities that never materialized. Leadership often takes credit for completed work while offering little recognition to the people actually executing the projects. Direction is unclear, priorities frequently shift, and instructions are sometimes denied after being given, which creates confusion and erodes trust. Rather than stepping up for their teams, leadership allows employees to take the blame when issues arise. There is also a strong emphasis on KPIs and metrics; however, these numbers often feel inflated or misrepresented, making it difficult to understand true performance. Overall, the culture prioritizes delegation without ownership, credit without contribution, and metrics over meaningful leadership. Structure is lacking, recognition is rare, growth pathways are unclear, and the people doing the heavy lifting are rarely the ones acknowledged.