Glow25 

(by 

Primal 

State 

Performance 

GmbH)

Unternehmenskultur

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.