Starling Bank displayed poor leadership and awful role modelling - C-suite leadership constantly harassed and micro-managed employees at all levels of the company which displayed no trust, effectively a vote of no confidence for one’s own employees. There was zero culture and this is important, especially considering it is a new FinTech, and young talent needs opportunity for development and career progression. Starling Bank does not provide that. There is a culture of fear- to drive more clicks and downloads, to the point where people can no longer effectively do their jobs. The leadership says it is open to opinions and contributions but will quickly put down any viewpoint that is contrary to its own. The biggest worry is with the CEO, who touts herself as a feminist banker. Instead of uplifting women as all her PR states, she denigrates and squashes women at all levels of the company who she finds threatening. Furthermore, she is obsessed with Monzo - there are days when it feels as if the company is run by Tom Blomfield - “what are they doing? How are they doing it?” It has reached levels of petty as if she has a grudge, which is the farthest thing from professional. Lastly, there is an issue of sexual harassment within the company. A minimum of five women have expressed feeling uncomfortable by advances of men within the company, but there are no reporting mechanisms in place.
