Seems nice from outside, but not so good ! - Developer Imaginary Cloud Employee Review

Thank you for your acknowledgement on how great our team is. We feel the same! As ImaginaryCloud’s top manager I’d like to apologise for any action or words that made you, or anyone, feel uncomfortable in any way. I’m used to having my team members approaching me personally whenever there is something that needs to be dealt with, and I'm sorry I was not able to foster the same trusting communication link with you. I confess it’s the first time I see the term punishment room. I suspect this is referred to the server room that was being used for standup meetings. The room is OK for small short meetings. Unfortunately project teams started to use it as a meeting room, and the conditions were far from ideal for a meeting longer than 15 minutes. We extended our offices to a new floor last September, and that room is not being used for meetings anymore. You are right when you say we hire mostly guys with a good track record, instead of having a junior team. We are proud of the quality we deliver, and a junior team would not be able to pull off most of the great things we do! About the professional progression, on one hand, we are a small team, and therefore we do not have unlimited career options in terms of roles. On the other, we offer an array of learning tools, and we strive to continuously offer our team opportunities to get in touch and learn new techs. Furthermore, the career plan was updated last quarter, and changes were rolled on January 2016. So far feedback has been great. Regarding our holiday policy, it needs to comply with the legal standard of Portugal. Which means that all company holiday plan needs to be closed before April ends. Changes to that plan are treated on a request basis to our HR manager, and requests are reviewed and approved at least once per week. We follow a first-come-first-served approach… The first elements to present their holiday plans tend to have them approved right away. If one slacks on this and leaves the plan to be presented on the last day of the deadline, their plans need to accommodate the early-birds requests. Again, we do this because that’s how the HR policies work in Portugal, and we have no option except being compliant. Again, thanks for the time invested in posting this recommendation. Feedback is most appreciated, even the negative one, as this is key for continuous improvement.