I was proud to be part of a company that was going places, made a real effort to service customers properly and had an environment where everyone mucked in and helped each other. After a buyout from private equity a couple of years ago, things started to change. I kind of expected this, the company had been very successful, but it still felt like a startup, so I knew it needed to grow up a bit. But whats happened is shameful. The original founders left and the new CEO replaced the whole Exec team with people he knew, mainly from his old company and it was clear early on that many of these people were only here because they are loyal to him and not because they know how to do their job.
There was a company meeting a while ago where he basically stood up in front of us and told people that he didn’t care about the past and we either do things his way or “get off the train”. Anyone who criticised or suggested alternative solutions was fired and we have ended up with a culture where people are too afraid to say what they think, provide valid input or even point out problems for fear of losing their job. Lots of talent has since left the company and much money has been spent putting in more and more directors and staff loyal to the CEO as well as interim contractors. Some of the new team were so bad it was a joke, people laughed because it was obvious they didn’t know what on earth they were doing and we all thought it would become clear and they would be exposed, but they are still here and only when the rumours started to circulate that their relationship with the CEO was more than just business did it make sense why they are still around.
A new office was opened in Newcastle and this is where the management team hide away behind closed doors. Getting most of them to spend anytime working alongside the lowly employees seems to be impossible and they simply don’t want to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. They spend more time getting ready for the board meeting when the investors come in than running the company.
I don’t know of a single colleague that isn’t either about to hand their notice in or isn't actively looking for another job. The whole environment has become toxic and it’s clear to most of us that the company is in trouble, customers are complaining all the time and we seem to be losing them in large numbers and the Exec team just don’t care.
Nobody seems to know where we are trying to go or how we are trying to get there and worst of all, there is no one to talk to about all this (no one trusts HR) so I will be one of the next wave of people to throw in the towel and get out while I can. I used to really enjoy coming to work, but now I just “do my time” and get out I quickly as possible.
Finally, it must be obvious to anyone with a brain that the first few reviews (written very close together with the normal buzzwords) are fake, if you look at the reviews for the old company name (Metronet UK) you can see the same fake reviews, but you can also see the overwhelming number of reviews that reflects my opinion. Read them and decide for yourself.
