The employees are the ones who have contributed to the unique workplace culture and helped shape it to what it is today. Unfortunately, things have changed since I started approximately 4yrs ago. Upper management pits employees against one another in hopes that the competitiveness will foster productivity. Unfortunately, this has created a toxicity that is poisoning the ecosystem of the workplace.
Since the company went public, this ethos has only gotten worse. Financials are more important to the company than the well being of their employees — which is very much the opposite feeling from when I first started.
Lower level support staff are pushed to go ‘above and beyond’ and work extra hard, only to make upper management look like they can actually run a team. No matter how much you contribute, you will be let go/laid off/fired once they feel like your purpose has been served and there is nothing left to squeeze out of you.
The HR Team never wants to get their hands dirty and instead of doing any real problem solving, keeps pushing issues to the back burner until something catches fire.
I was inspired to write this when I recently read another negative review (See: ‘Dax’s image is the only good thing about the company’). Their perspective is spot on. Senior Management are indeed a bunch of frat boys as well as wannabe mafioso types who’ve spent too many hours re-watching the Godfather trilogy. They do not care about the well being of their respective teams, they only care about themselves.
It’s a shame really because when I first started working for this company I really enjoyed it. I am sure that this sentiment is not unique to my experiences. I would encourage anyone else reading this, who has felt the same, to share their thoughts. I would also encourage any Management reading this to be more proactive about checking in more regularly with their teams to ensure that Lightspeed is indeed fostering the workplace culture that they are actively promoting.
