I relocated from out of state for this job and was thankful for a full relocation package. However within the first month of working there, I realized that I had made a huge mistake. I have worked in some pretty bad office environments before, but this was by far the most toxic, dysfunctional and demeaning experience of my life.
During my nearly four years with the company I had three different bosses, each one worse than the one before. The list of things said to, and done to me is lengthy and appalling: Most of which Glassdoor won't let me list here. Sadly, this behavior wasn’t reserved for just me, nearly every one of my coworkers had similar experiences with members of management.
There is a culture of secrecy, distrust, gossip, backstabbing, undermining and lies cultivated by management and C-Suite executives and HR is well aware of it. But little to nothing is done about the situation, because they take their cues from the owner of the company whose behavior is most egregious.
Lastly, there is the company’s COVID-19 response. Or lack thereof. The day that the Governor announced the lift of the stay-at-home order, several employees were ordered back into the office, full time, every day. No hybrid schedule, no negotiation. Upon return, there were no partitions placed anywhere in my department, and PPE were often scarce so I had to provide my own. Usually (not always, and depending on where in the office you were at the time) within the first hour of coming into work in the morning, someone would walk around asking if we felt okay, but I never saw anyone’s temperature taken, and there was no one at the door screening employees as they entered. Nearly everyone complained about the company’s apparent lack of concern. Requests to continue working from home (as per the Governor’s orders) were met with the party line: “We are not a work-from-home company.” It was made clear on several occasions that selling jewelry was far more important than the health and safety of the employees.
With such a high turnover, I hope that my experience will give the next person pause when applying for a job. I have seen too many good, talented, hard-working people treated poorly and forced to leave. I have not even scratched the surface here, as there is so much more that is wrong with this company.