A disappointing workplace caused by toxic workplace behaviors and bad business practices
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
• Glow offers a great learning environment with resources like Udemy business licenses and dedicated time for professional development.
• The company is committed to hiring diverse talent, which enhances team knowledge and brings fresh perspectives.
• There are opportunities for internal promotion, with many colleagues advancing within the company after a year.
• Glow provides a fair budget for technical equipment, allowing employees to choose the tools they need to perform their tasks effectively.
• The company is involved in social good through the Glow foundation, supporting various causes and giving back to the community.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
• The work culture is highly demanding, with unreasonable expectations for project timelines, often leading to burnout and unhealthy work-life balance.
• Management tends to overlook or undervalue employees’ feedback, leaving individuals feeling unheard and powerless.
• Promotions, particularly to leadership roles, seem to be influenced more by personal relationships and office politics than by merit.
• There is a lack of transparency regarding role expectations, leaving employees unclear about their responsibilities.
• Some colleagues were intentionally excluded or treated disrespectfully, creating a toxic work environment.
• The focus on maintaining constant positivity can stifle honest feedback and lead to miscommunication or unaddressed issues.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
I had a disappointing experience with my manager (in CRM & Retention department), which I recommend Glow review to prevent similar issues for others.
From my first day, my manager seemed to have a negative attitude towards me, though I’m still unsure why. Our introductory meeting was cut 30 minutes short because she needed to meet with others. The conversation was brief, with no questions or introductions from her.
During my two-week onboarding, I was left to read company documents and schedule meetings with team members, as my manager was mostly unavailable I had to rely on my senior colleague, who was overburdened with tasks, to onboard me. Despite multiple attempts, I never received clear guidance on my role or expectations. My manager dismissed my attempts to schedule meetings and often prioritized other activities, such as social outings, over addressing my questions.
For 5-6 weeks, I did not have a 1-on-1 or check-in with my manager. This lack of communication left me unsure of my responsibilities and role, leading me to mistakenly assume that my senior colleague was my direct superior. I later learned that I was supposed to take over many of his tasks, which led to confusion for both me and the stakeholders.
I also encountered unprofessional behavior, particularly when I was given tasks requiring 12+ hour workdays. After notifying my senior colleague about needing overtime hours, he verbally berated me, using aggressive language. My manager and I held a meeting to discuss the situation, but my senior colleague never apologized, and I did not receive any clear feedback on how to improve.
I had expressed interest in participating in a team-building event but had informed both my manager and senior colleague about one specific date I could not attend. The event was scheduled for that date, which felt intentional.
Workwise, I was often disregarded and not given proper care or respect. I was assigned work/campaigns that were fully created using Chat-GPT and asked to execute 100-300+ task projects without any handover or proper information. When I asked for more clarification, I was told to refer to the documents, which were often made using Chat-GPT and contained conflicting information.
At my 3 month probation mark my manager and I were asked to fill out a feedback form in Leapsome about me. I was taken by surprise when I read the feedback written about me by my manager. The feedback was extremely negative with gross over-exaggerations or factual lies. We were supposed to have our probation feedback meeting to discuss this. I prepared constructive feedback points where we can jointly work on, as part of an agreed development plan (ahead of the meeting happening).
When I entered what was supposed to be my 1-on-1, 3-month probation feedback meeting, HR and my manager were present with their cameras off and informed me that they were terminating my employment in a 5-minute discussion. I had no prior warning or even a development plan discussion. I wasn’t given the chance to say a proper goodbye to my team or stakeholders, and all my accounts were locked immediately. I feel disrespected by the lack of warnings, development, and the opportunity for a constructive, honest discussion. HR also did not invite me for an exit interview, which I believe should always be offered.
This type of treatment I personally find disgusting.
I felt like I was discarded without any warning, security, or respect – all after working tirelessly for months, around the clock, on sick days, holidays, and nights, to support my team and contribute to Glow’s campaigns.
I hope Glow takes this feedback seriously and reflects on their off-boarding practices. I joined with optimism and eagerness to contribute, but I left feeling used, disrespected, disregarded, sabotaged, and ultimately undervalued in my team. I hope Glow will review this experience and ensure that no one else faces a similar situation.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
When you first join Glow, the workplace culture appears positive and welcoming. Personal welcome messages, the use of kind and supportive language, and enthusiastic responses to introductory posts create a strong initial impression.
However, over time, this culture leans towards performative positivity. Constructive feedback is often discouraged and perceived as unfriendly, stifling honest communication. Critiques are shared behind closed doors rather than directly, creating mistrust.
There is also a significant emphasis on fostering personal friendships with colleagues. Professional relationships within teams often depend on how socially close you are to others, leading to unclear boundaries and a lack of professionalism. For example, refraining from overly friendly greetings like “Meine Lieben” might lead to exclusion or the perception that something is wrong with your attitude.
This culture prioritizes relationships over merit and professionalism, resulting in office politics and a lack of objective decision-making. While the company promotes positivity, the underlying dynamics may hinder collaboration and trust in the long term.
Kommunikation
My team held biweekly meetings to discuss projects and updates, creating some regularity, but communication processes needed significant improvement.
Knowledge-sharing was inconsistent, with critical information often withheld or bottlenecked among a few individuals. This led to missed details, overtime work to resolve issues, or being unfairly blamed for problems caused by a lack of transparency.
Despite requests, feedback loops were not implemented by management, and clear processes for communication and information sharing were absent.
For example, project and campaign handovers were consistently lacking. I was often required to execute projects prepared by my manager with little to no handover or communication. These projects frequently contained errors or missing tasks, requiring me to spend excessive time correcting mistakes. Furthermore, the lack of professional working relationships made providing constructive feedback nearly impossible. Constructive input was often met with emotional, rather than logical or professional, reactions, leading to feedback being dismissed as negative or problematic.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
Communication between colleagues often involves overly positive language and emojis, creating a kind and welcoming atmosphere initially. However, tensions arise over time due to the expectation of constant positivity. This forces individuals to suppress frustrations or necessary feedback, leading to mistrust.
Any form of critique or constructive feedback is perceived as a personal attack, as honest, direct communication is discouraged. Feedback is typically shared behind closed doors or used strategically, such as when colleagues seek promotions by undermining others.
Working relationships are heavily influenced by personal and romantic connections. In my team, favoritism was evident, with those closest to the manager receiving special treatment and immunity. My decision to maintain privacy regarding my personal and romantic life led to poor treatment and a lack of respect from my manager and team.
Work-Life-Balance
There is a clear issue at the C-level with respecting employees’ work-life balance.
Projects and campaigns that typically require 3–6 months to execute are routinely expected to be completed in less than a month. Quarterly workshops held by the C- and D-levels determine upcoming initiatives, but by the time these plans reach individual contributors, timelines are severely compressed. It is considered fortunate to have even one month to execute a project that would reasonably take much longer in a professional organization.
This creates constant, immense pressure to keep pushing forward. Deadlines are razor-thin, leaving no margin for error, which forces individuals to work excessive hours to meet campaign demands. Feedback from nearly every stakeholder I worked with reflected similar frustrations. Department heads seem powerless in this situation, as their concerns are often ignored or dismissed.
Personally, I had to cancel health appointments, miss social occasions, and even work on sick days to ensure campaign deadlines and tasks were met.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
When I first joined Glow, I was excited to work with my manager and senior colleague. I looked forward to learning from and collaborating with them.
Unfortunately, my experience was deeply disappointing. On my first day, my manager made no effort to introduce herself or show any professional interest in me. She cut our introductory meeting short by 30 minutes to attend another meeting.
From that point on, my manager (in CRM & Retention dep.) seemed disinterested in me. During my first three months, she didn’t arrange a 1-on-1 meeting for 5–6 weeks. Only after I suggested it did she reluctantly agree to weekly meetings, but these were limited to small talk with no focus on professional development or our working relationship. I never received any outline of my role, tasks, responsibilities, or expectations within the team. For the first month, I wasn’t even sure whether my senior colleague or my manager was my direct superior. I felt like an afterthought and was treated with a lack of respect from the moment I started. Throughout my time under her management, I was purposefully excluded, set up to fail, disrespected, sabotaged, and treated in ways no one should have to experience.
Interessante Aufgaben
I really enjoyed the tasks I worked on at Glow25. It was personally rewarding to be part of a scale-up with apparent growth opportunities. The tasks aligned well with my field of interest, and I greatly enjoyed collaborating with the talented team members and stakeholders. Working together on these projects gave me a sense of personal fulfillment, and motivation to keep going.
Gleichberechtigung
I personally never witnessed any poor treatment based on gender, age, orientation, race, or other personal factors. I appreciated that Glow actively hired international and diverse talent, which greatly enriched the knowledge and expertise within the teams.
At its core, Glow follows a hierarchical and traditional organizational structure, typical of Germany. Inequality generally arises due to a person’s rank and title, with many upper-management individuals disregarding or not responding to the opinions of those lower in the corporate hierarchy. Unfortunately, to get tasks done or receive information, you often have to rely on senior colleagues or individuals at Head level or above to act on your behalf.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
I have never witnessed poor treatment based on age. However, I’ve heard some more mature colleagues express feeling a bit uncomfortable, as most individuals in the company are in their 20s or early 30s.
Personally, I saw mature colleagues being respected and valued for their experience and talent. I have greatly appreciated their advice and expertise in guiding projects and tasks.
Arbeitsbedingungen
The company provides a budget for individuals to choose the technical equipment they need to perform their tasks. For me, this included a MacBook Pro and a monitor. However, other office equipment such as desks, chairs, or additional office accessories typically cannot be covered within this budget for your home office. The equipment is provided by a rental company and delivered to your house.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Glow has made an impressive effort to engage in social good. I respected their decision to recently open the Glow Foundation, which supports various causes.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
Glow offered me one of the most impressive employment packages I have seen in Germany. I appreciated the effort from HR to provide employees with a strong benefits package.
Regarding promotions, I noticed that individuals typically receive a title promotion after a year. I cannot comment on the salary increase, as I am unaware of the percentage increase offered with a promotion. During my contract negotiation, Glow was quick to accept my request for a higher salary, and I was satisfied with the terms I had negotiated.
Image
Glow has an extremely positive external image. During the interview process, I had a very pleasant and positive impression of the company, especially from HR. The signing process was straightforward, respectful, and pleasant.
However, my perception of Glow started to change once I became immersed in my team. The environment I had expected, and saw in other teams, was not reflected in my own.
While most people generally speak positively about Glow, a shared frustration point was the lack of consideration for fair task deadlines. This led to burnout and unhealthy work-life balance for many individuals.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
Glow offers all employees a Udemy business license, allowing them to pursue any course, whether professional or hobby-based. The company also provides one hour per week during work hours to dedicate to learning through Udemy.
I found the tasks I worked on to be very interesting, full of learning opportunities. I also observed many colleagues receiving promotions after one year of employment, which reflected Glow’s commitment to internal promotions and hiring from within.
However, once at Glow, I noticed that promotions to leadership roles were not always based on merit but often on personal relationships with those providing these roles. This led to a situation where some employees heavily engaged in office politics or sought to build close friendships with key individuals to secure a promotion.
This created a toxic work environment where backstabbing, sabotaging, and bad-mouthing were commonplace. Such behavior was used to damage others’ reputations, get ahead, or gain favor with upper management. I also noticed management actively encouraging and participating in this culture.