It WAS fun, great and enjoyable, until.... - Recensione dipendente - Digital Designer Intern presso Pixlr

Since day one, everything was great. The environment was positive, everyone was friendly, supportive, and helpful, even across different departments. It really felt like a healthy workplace culture where people respected one another. Until… Around two months into my internship, things started to shift. A new dept Director, along with a few senior executives from another department (not from the Creative Team), joined the office and the environment changed drastically. Suddenly, the positive energy disappeared. Negative vibes began to spread, and every day filled with drama, fake behavior, and manipulation. Even I as an intern, was accused as a spy by the dept Director, which is ridiculous. There was micromanagement, twisted narratives everywhere, and a toxic atmosphere that affected even those who had previously been respected and well-liked by everyone. To prevent situations from worsening further, too much restrictions were put in place and one of it was avoiding casual interactions between staff with other depts. What used to be normal like chatting or having breakfast together, little laughs, became discouraged, just to avoid getting anyone in that dept, in trouble with the dept Director. Sadly, this control extended to almost every small thing in the office. One of the most surprising things was that the dept Director and the senior executives, despite working at a company that develops its own design tool, openly admitted to me using Canva (a direct competitor) and even expressed pride in doing so, which stunned me as an intern that has been taught to use the Pixlr software to create designs for their products. They even used it to create designs instead of utilizing our own product, which raises a valid question for me as an intern. How can they effectively promote and sell our product if they don’t even use it themselves and rely on a direct competitor instead? How do they market our product if they don't even understand its pros and cons? Bear in mind, they are senior executives and a dept Director. All of this affected the culture of the workplace significantly and, in turn, had an impact on my own experience as an intern. The shift was very disappointing and hard to ignore. Things were great until they came. There were also promises made during onboarding that weren’t fully kept. For example, HR mentioned that weekly sports activities would be part of the internship experience. But none were held until, after three months, some staff members suggested organizing a badminton session. Only two sessions happened before they abruptly stopped and once again, internal politics from the same dept Director got in the way just because of 1 badminton session. I even volunteered to help organize future sessions, but it wasn’t encouraged, as everyone was afraid it might cause more problems. HR is not helping at all with the current issues. So, in the end, all sports activities stopped altogether due to fear of potential backlash. If HR mentioned weekly activities during your hiring, just know that it will never happen at the current time. Just talk, no action. Car parking is quite expensive. I’d recommend using public transport or riding a motorcycle instead, it’s only RM1/day. The area mostly has non-halal restaurants, so there aren’t many lunch choices for Muslim staff. There is a prayer room located at the parking level, which is not too far and quite convenient. Due to recent internal issues involving the dept Director and several senior staff, the work environment has become increasingly restrictive and negative. At this time, I would not recommend joining the company overall. However, if you're a fresh graduate looking to gain experience in the Creative Team specifically, it could still be a valuable opportunity but just be mindful of the current issues, as they may highly impact your overall experience and mental well-being.