Unfortunately, transparency has been a recurring challenge during my time at Oddbox. Major decisions — including redundancies, new hires and policy changes — were often communicated late, vaguely, or inconsistently.
There were several instances of sudden hires or departures that left teams without clear leadership for long periods, and the reasoning behind redundancies seemed to change depending on who you asked. Staff turnover has been noticeably high, and many colleagues who left shared similar reasons: difficulty progressing, lack of clarity from leadership, and not feeling appreciated.
Policy changes, particularly around office attendance and absences, felt inconsistently enforced. Despite being open about personal circumstances, ADHD and mental-health challenges, I often felt scrutinised in a way that didn’t match the empathy expected from a mission-driven B-Corp. Meanwhile, expectations differed significantly across teams.
Support from management also felt mixed. Feedback was sometimes contradictory or unclear, and there were moments where concerns were met with dismissiveness rather than support. Some interactions with certain members of the People Team felt colder than expected, especially given how warm the wider team is. Raising struggles sometimes seemed to result in being encouraged to consider roles elsewhere, which contributed to feeling undervalued.
The workload increased significantly after structural changes, with many people effectively doing multiple roles at once, leaving little time for genuine development.
I ultimately felt I didn’t have much choice. A sudden shift in tone from leadership, combined with increased workload, unclear expectations, and feeling dismissed by HR, left me feeling undervalued, unsupported and really disappointed.
