I used to work at this startup that loved to hype up its “amazing culture” and “work hard, play hard culture.” Honestly, it felt way more like a college frat house than a real company. The CEO would literally walk around at 10am on a random weekday with a bottle of Hennessy, calling people derogatory names if they didn’t take a shot. I wish I was exaggerating.
Pay wasn’t great either, but I knew that going in. I had to make a career change because of the pandemic, so I took the first entry-level job that caught my interest. I was living at home with my parents at the time, so I wasn’t struggling personally, but a lot of people I worked with definitely were. Some even had second jobs just to make ends meet. I left there 4 years ago, and recently went out to eat and was waited on by one of my former coworkers who still works there. What really pissed me off was finding out a coworker on my team, who had zero industry experience, like I did coming in, but was performing far worse than me, was making double my salary just because they were a family friend of the CEO. I found out many more people who were hired on who were family or friends also got similar pay treatment.
Work-life balance was basically nonexistent. The handbook said hours were 8–5, but we were expected to work 7–6 every day. So yeah, that’s about 10 extra unpaid hours a week. If you left at 5 without some “valid excuse,” you got side-eyed or called out for it. The job could’ve been done easily remotely, but we weren’t allowed to. I knew this because I found myself working at home some nights and weekends just to stay on par. Last winter, I saw a LinkedIn post from a former coworker who still works there that everyone come in during a massive snowstorm, rather than allowing them to work from home as the DOT was literally telling people not to drive. Management acted like it was something to be proud of.
PTO technically existed, but it wasn’t really a break. You had to get ahead on your work before taking any time off, otherwise it wouldn’t be approved. They almost didn’t even let me take time off to go to my own grad school graduation, which was insane to me. And since the company only had around 80 people, everyone knew when someone took PTO, which led to a lot of judgment or side comments about it. It made taking time off feel like a burden instead of something you’d earned.
Nepotism and favoritism were super obvious too. Being part of the CEO’s inner circle or one of the “fun” people got you way further than actually doing good work. The CEO would even go as far as taking his "favorites" on out of state weekend trips to places like Vegas or Miami.
And then there was the whole LinkedIn thing. We were forced to post every single day. It wasn’t optional. You either had to post company-related stuff, tag leadership, and hype up the culture, or make some random post about your personal life, like you were on Facebook, just to keep up appearances. I’m not a social media person at all, so being turned into a walking ad for the company felt super uncomfortable. Not everyone wants their entire online identity to revolve around their job.
Mental health support was basically a joke. The CEO claimed to have an “open door policy,” but when I actually went to talk to him about struggling with some personal stuff, he told me to suck it up and somehow made the whole conversation about himself. He went into this weird motivational-speaker mode, trying to “inspire” me instead of just listening or showing a bit of understanding, which was literally all I was asking for. That was pretty much the moment I started job hunting and I ended up putting in my two weeks about a week later despite not having something else lined up. That was the last straw.
And the whole “work hard, play hard” thing? It meant if you didn’t go to every happy hour, golf outing, or weekend trip, get wasted with the CEO, and play into the whole “party culture,” you were seen as not being a “team player.” Promotions went to the ones who partied with him, not the ones doing the best work. I just wanted to have a normal life outside of work, but apparently that meant I didn’t fit the culture.
If you’re ever considering joining a company that brags about being “like a family” or has a “work hard, play hard” culture, think twice. For some people it might be their thing, but for me, it was one of the most unprofessional and exhausting jobs I’ve ever had.
Pay wasn’t great either, but I knew that going in. I had to make a career change because of the pandemic, so I took the first entry-level job that caught my interest. I was living at home with my parents at the time, so I wasn’t struggling personally, but a lot of people I worked with definitely were. Some even had second jobs just to make ends meet. I left there 4 years ago, and recently went out to eat and was waited on by one of my former coworkers who still works there. What really pissed me off was finding out a coworker on my team, who had zero industry experience, like I did coming in, but was performing far worse than me, was making double my salary just because they were a family friend of the CEO. I found out many more people who were hired on who were family or friends also got similar pay treatment.
Work-life balance was basically nonexistent. The handbook said hours were 8–5, but we were expected to work 7–6 every day. So yeah, that’s about 10 extra unpaid hours a week. If you left at 5 without some “valid excuse,” you got side-eyed or called out for it. The job could’ve been done easily remotely, but we weren’t allowed to. I knew this because I found myself working at home some nights and weekends just to stay on par. Last winter, I saw a LinkedIn post from a former coworker who still works there that everyone come in during a massive snowstorm, rather than allowing them to work from home as the DOT was literally telling people not to drive. Management acted like it was something to be proud of.
PTO technically existed, but it wasn’t really a break. You had to get ahead on your work before taking any time off, otherwise it wouldn’t be approved. They almost didn’t even let me take time off to go to my own grad school graduation, which was insane to me. And since the company only had around 80 people, everyone knew when someone took PTO, which led to a lot of judgment or side comments about it. It made taking time off feel like a burden instead of something you’d earned.
Nepotism and favoritism were super obvious too. Being part of the CEO’s inner circle or one of the “fun” people got you way further than actually doing good work. The CEO would even go as far as taking his "favorites" on out of state weekend trips to places like Vegas or Miami.
And then there was the whole LinkedIn thing. We were forced to post every single day. It wasn’t optional. You either had to post company-related stuff, tag leadership, and hype up the culture, or make some random post about your personal life, like you were on Facebook, just to keep up appearances. I’m not a social media person at all, so being turned into a walking ad for the company felt super uncomfortable. Not everyone wants their entire online identity to revolve around their job.
Mental health support was basically a joke. The CEO claimed to have an “open door policy,” but when I actually went to talk to him about struggling with some personal stuff, he told me to suck it up and somehow made the whole conversation about himself. He went into this weird motivational-speaker mode, trying to “inspire” me instead of just listening or showing a bit of understanding, which was literally all I was asking for. That was pretty much the moment I started job hunting and I ended up putting in my two weeks about a week later despite not having something else lined up. That was the last straw.
And the whole “work hard, play hard” thing? It meant if you didn’t go to every happy hour, golf outing, or weekend trip, get wasted with the CEO, and play into the whole “party culture,” you were seen as not being a “team player.” Promotions went to the ones who partied with him, not the ones doing the best work. I just wanted to have a normal life outside of work, but apparently that meant I didn’t fit the culture.
If you’re ever considering joining a company that brags about being “like a family” or has a “work hard, play hard” culture, think twice. For some people it might be their thing, but for me, it was one of the most unprofessional and exhausting jobs I’ve ever had.
