Licious reviews about "politics"

Extremely poor management. The project focus shifts rapidly, showing a lack of clear vision and strategic planning. Technical decisions by managers and executives often don't make sense for the company's long-term growth. The DevOps team is particularly affected by this instability where the leaders lack vision for transitioning to platform engineering, and the frequent changes in project focus exacerbate the problem. This bait-and-switch for the work role is demoralizing and can misalign with your career goals. Dry promotions are being adopted as part of the work culture.

Good to start your career to become a technological politician, not much good tech, still PHP is being used, good for freshers to start

There might have been a time when Licious culture was good but those days are long gone. The company has hired a bunch of new leaders across teams and everyone is playing their own game and politics which ultimately is trickling down to teams doing the actual work. There is too much politics and toxicity, dishonest sympathizers and yes men everywhere not even doing the bare minimum. Zero processes. Managers just pass on the toxicity down the line, no one suppprts you or is interested in solving any larger issues. Heavy workload, very long work hours, 0 work life balance, working weekends many a times without any overtime pay or even acknowledgement of your efforts. No wonder the attrition rate is so high. Additionally, office space is extremely chaotic. Distracting flourescent lights, uncomfortable chairs, people having loud discussions around you. Anyone can interrupt you anytime and pull you into pointless ad-hoc meetings. This is what happens when you take open door policy too far; no one's time is important and it becomes impossible to get any work done. Everyone is expected to come to office all days of the week but there is not enough space to even walk in office without running into someone, no conducive work environment to focus, not enough meeting rooms, not enough parking, not enough space to sit in the canteen etc etc. Dont' join unless you are very desperate.

Ver bad work culture and lot of politics

Never talk about increment, growth, employee upliftment, training.

Here comes the list of items that should be talked about: 1. First of all if we talk about the tech center in kochi, it is highly mishandled. The person who is sitting on top position there is not the correct person to give incharge of such a big team. 2. The environment is so toxic that people there just want to run away as soon as they get an offer (even if it is from less known or some low tier company). 3. EM there sorry I have to write this, is a person who is highly incapable of handling people in a product based company. I mean he only wants to get work done no matter if it is possible to do it in the time frame "he decides" and get his image clean infront of the BLR people. He is the kind of person if any of the SDE-1/2 comes in his bad books he is always in a revenge mode with them. Making their life hell. Disrespecting them in front of everyone. 4. EM has a hobby of changing priorities. Today Task1 will be top priority and he will ask to stop all the work and complete Task1 and the next day Task2 will be top priority and command will be to stop everything including Task1 and complete Task2. And it is infinitely nestable. 5. There is no empathy towards the employee and we are just treated as a code writing machine. 6. There is too much politics running here, Although some of the politicians left but still there are some who can ruin your day if you are the target. 7. Then comes the salary, even service companies / Mass recruiters pays significantly higher than what we are getting. All motivation dies when you get peanuts after working round the clock. 8. Then comes the slack channel which most of the time is filled with disrespectful language of Top leadership. The basic respect which an employee deserves is missing in this org. There are other things too but I don't want to go there.

Blame Culture There is little to no accountability. When issues arise, the focus shifts to avoiding blame rather than solving the problem. More time is spent managing perceptions with the founders than addressing what actually needs to be fixed. Workplace Politics Internal politics are deeply ingrained. Gossip is common, and individuals who choose not to participate are often mischaracterized. Even at the senior level, unhealthy competition and mistrust are prevalent. In an environment where toxicity is normalized, professionalism is often misunderstood or dismissed. Rigid Work Expectations & Lack of Consideration for Tech Teams Mandatory office attendance with little flexibility shows a lack of understanding of how different teams operate. What about engineers working late nights or weekends? What about support teams resolving critical issues during non-business hours? The blanket approach to "being seen" in office completely overlooks those who actually keep things running. It reinforces what many have long suspected—this was never a tech-first organization, and policies like this only prove it further. Lack of Accountability and Ownership New employees often join with short-term goals and minimal accountability, while long-term employees continue doing the heavy lifting—often at significantly lower compensation. Work is frequently delegated without clarity, and responsibility is rarely taken. Unfair Practices in Hiring and Compensation Internal employees are often underpaid compared to new hires, despite doing more work. Recruitment drives are scheduled without adequate notice, and follow-ups are poorly managed. Questions regarding hiring processes are often met with hostility from the recruitment manager rather than transparency. Plain silly! Referral Process is Broken Employees are encouraged to refer candidates, but there is no communication on status or outcomes. The process lacks transparency and consistency, making it one of the poorest referrals experiences I’ve seen. I refer candidates and then end up chasing for updates—it's become a running joke in my network. Weak Tech Leadership There is minimal accountability at the top, and decision-making is often reactive with no consistent strategic approach. It’s hard to expect otherwise when most initiatives seem to be led by ChatGPT—at times, it genuinely feels like AI could replace the leadership. While that may sound humorous, the real impact is on the team’s learning and long-term growth, which continues to suffer. Unprofessional Behavior is Tolerated—and That Says Everything People openly behave unprofessionally, fully aware that there will be no consequences. It has become normalized, and that’s deeply concerning. How can an organization allow this? And how can individuals continue to act this way, knowing it's unacceptable? At the end of the day, we are defined by what we tolerate—and this tolerance is setting the wrong standard for everyone. Blaming Those Who’ve Left Has Become Convenient In challenging situations, the default response is to shift blame onto someone who’s already left—easy, since they’re not around to defend themselves. Even in casual conversations, there’s a tendency to criticize former team members just to deflect from present issues or boost one’s own image. Is that the standard we’ve come to accept? It’s not okay. Unclear Path for Growth Career progression is often based on alliances, not merit. Those who engage in flattery, avoid work, and shift blame tend to rise faster than those who focus on delivery and integrity.

I joined expecting growth and a healthy work environment, but this turned out to be one of the most toxic workplaces I’ve experienced. The culture completely affected my mental peace. The way people speak, especially some HRs and managers, is extremely rude and disrespectful. Instead of supporting employees, they blame people for everything and make the environment stressful every single day. What hurt the most was the favoritism. Managers mostly support people they are personally close to, and if they don’t like you or can’t connect with you personally, your work life becomes very difficult no matter how hard you work. In many situations, employees are blamed for mistakes made by management itself. The hiring process is also frustrating. They take multiple rounds of interviews, give candidates hope, discuss everything in detail, and then suddenly lowball during salary discussions saying the expected salary ‘doesn’t make sense.’ It honestly feels like they waste weeks or even months of people’s time. Resignation is another issue. Even after deciding to leave, the process becomes unnecessarily difficult till the very end instead of handling things professionally. I stayed for around a year, and honestly, I lost my peace, motivation, and mental health during that period. This is my personal experience, and I genuinely wouldn’t recommend joining unless you are ready to deal with politics, pressure, favoritism, and a very unhealthy culture.