Where do I begin...? As an employee that has been with Freeman for four years I can honestly say Freeman has lost/ sold its soul. Freeman was the beacon of hope, Freeman meant family, Freeman meant being part of something bigger and better than each of us, Freeman was the industry leader. Now, this is all gone...
In the past year or so the executive team has willingly and knowingly detached Freeman from the key pillars of our company. This detachment, in turn, has created one of the most hostile and virulent company cultures I have ever experienced. There have been large secret layoffs with absolutely no communication from our executive team to calm employee’s nerves. Freeman willingly and knowingly pays substantially less than competing companies by 10% - 15%. Freeman’s benefits (insurance, stock option (I’ll get to this in a bit), vacation time, work life balance, etc.) become more and more meager every year.
Regarding the company “Employee Owned” stock option, it was cancelled two weeks before our employee appreciation day and get this… It was relayed to employees on EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY that the “Employee Owned” stock option was going away for good. Thanks for the pat on the back Joe! As an employee who is part of an “Employee Owned” stock option I sure would have liked to have been brought into the fray to ensure WE (the employees) were getting the best possible option.
The company culture at Freeman is “dog eat dog” meets “hunt or be hunted”. The majority of the management within this company is focused solely on themselves. The unreasonable expectation to do more work, with less employees and expect better quarterly results is unreasonable and is not sustainable. These unreal expectations have created animosity between upper management and employees. In addition to this animosity, there have been plenty of HR violations which still shock me to my core. DO NOT TRUST HUMAN RESOURCES AT FREEMAN! THEY WILL MANAGE YOU OUT FOR ANY SIMPLE CONCERN YOU BRING TO THEM.
Last but not least, this has affected “US” (the employees). The employees who feel lost, heartbroken, scared, and most of all cheated. There are plenty of people that struggle with the insurmountable amount of stress and they work hard to cope and continue working in this toxic environment. “We” (the employees) come to work because we love what we do and we truly love this company but we have come to dislike what this company has become. Please stop treating us like we’re disposable! We are humans with families, feelings, concerns and dreams. Freeman, We (the employees) are jumping ship because the ship is sinking...