Toxic culture - Anonymous employee Solvay Employee Review

1.0
Sep 9, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

What Solvay does above average: benefits. If you can stomach working with the culture, go for it. For those that like efficiency, common sense, actual processes, professional colleagues and non-toxic environments and getting work done, go elsewhere.

Cons

Authoritarian culture – they tell you what to do and expect you to do it even when it’s illogical, will cost them unnecessary money or be detrimental to the organization. You will need to document everything in order to protect yourself. Antagonistic culture - supports and tolerates disrespect, distrust and toxicity and favoritism. Everything is escalated even when it’s not necessary. There are sufficient employees being mistreated and disrespected on a regular basis and it’s considered “normal” behavior. Inefficient - Lots of hands in the cookie jar which slows down productivity and increases inefficiency. Lack of Integrity – gaslighting is a daily practice and if you ask questions, you will be disliked. Also, telling the truth is optional for many: when the company announced internally they were splitting, people were being hired without being told about the upcoming split. Some leaders even selected people without a stellar career so the leader would not "feel bad" when the layoffs came. Employees felt they were hired to do one job and none of the things promised came to fruition; classic bait and switch. When you read your offer letter and it says they can change your job without any advance notice, take it seriously. Favoritism - there is blatant favoritism. For instance, an employee in Belgium will receive better projects/opportunities from a leader in Belgium. If a leader is French he will select a French employee regardless of location - simply being French is enough. Though global, the feeling is not reciprocated to all. Employees that are assertive and communicate clearly and directly are ostracized and criticized and quickly moved into the “unpopular” category by their European counterparts/leaders. I witnessed women in particular, being disrespected and nothing was done. Apparently, this is acceptable in Europe. If you’re an independent and innovative thinker, this is not the culture for you; you will be passed up for promotions and openly criticized. Please note that due to an ongoing an organizational reduction in workforce, you won’t see truthful aka, negative reviews because the organization requires laid off employees to sign an agreement stating they won’t post disparaging reviews and that includes truthful, accurate reviews that are not so complimentary of the organization. If they don’t sign the agreement, they will forfeit their severance package.

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Solvay Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're sorry if you experienced this, as it doesn't not reflect our culture, our processes, and what we strive for. We would love to have a chance to speak with you about it, so feel free to reach out via this link: https://www.solvay.com/en/request-hr-support. We thank you for your time at Solvay and wish you every success for the future. Best regards, Solvay Human Resources

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