Pros
The founder and original management successfully built the company to be an industry leader. There was an open and friendly culture that people felt included, trusted and appreciated. With slightly lower than market salary but a lot of freedom, people willingly worked together to build a better future for the company, and grew a career with authentic hand-on experience for individuals. The win-win culture successfully built Caseware up with very low cost. The best part is, the culture was never advertised. It was felt quitely by everyone.
Cons
A year ago, the founders of the company retired and sold the majority share to an investment company. A new management took over. The culture took a 180 degree turn. The new management brought in a toxic culture of lies and arrogance. Outspoken people were forced out; the remaining learned to be silent. The new management is skillful in presentation and reporting. Underneath, very little is truly done. Cost is skyrocketing due to bloat of management and significantly lowered work efficiency combined with low morale. The numbers on paper are manipulated or at least misinterpreted. The increased cost is rationalized by promises of rebuilding a bright future. When truth is revealed or questioned, the high turnover rate provides easy scapegoats. To maintain a facade of success, farewell emails are blocked. People came to realize the high turnover rate through a large number of monthly new hire announcements while Town Hall participant total remains unchanged. Online public reviews are faked. Insightful negative reviews are removed. Save a copy of this too. The new management prides itself with delusional “Leadership”. They dictate things they believe are expert. But they are only copying success books' bullet points verbatim with no ground experience and true understanding. Initially employees contributed their ideas., which are either ignored, denied or even humiliated for being short-sighted. When people voiced concerns, the management responded with a training program on how to provide “constructive feedback” to help Leaders lead. There are a dozen rules for “constructive feedback” in which “protective silence” is bad and “sincere praise” is good. At the same time, the management keeps pushing a four-line company value, making everyone quote them in daily conversations. In meetings that the policy is highlighted, George Orwell’s Animal Farm is alive. Fortunately, the praises and quoting are only seen between the members of ELT (Enterprise Leadership Team or Elite Team subconsciously), using clichés like “big shoes to fill” when an executive successfully secured a top title and leaves after six months of doing nothing. Employees are complaining about being brain dead when forced to review themselves and each other against the four-line company values. In this toxic environment, the only sensible thing to do is to do nothing, and follow the ELT Team’s example to engage in endless meetings “planning”. If nothing is done, there is no fault. The picture of a future cake is painted bigger and nicer. The only question is, when the disaster is going to hit. Global distributors have already jumped ship, selling business back , which is presented by the management as building “One Caseware”.
