Traumatising
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
At the time I was at Granny there was still an active and talented Creative team. Only a few remain and I hope they find their way out soon.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
I was fooled in my interview process that the Granny values around open-mindedness, creativity, and diversity actually existed. I truly believed in and trusted the management board, whom I soon found to be deceitful and manipulative. There was severe mistreatment of my team. I tried to speak up and offer professional strategies to fix issues but was quickly labeled a problem, without discussion. The same goes for anyone who tried to show the reality of Granny culture; you would be marked and severe lies and stories would be gossiped about you until they remove you without any concrete reasons. The management and account team are much more creative with their passive-aggression and dishonesty than they'd ever allow with any of their actual client work. There is a 'mean girl' culture of bullying and if you are not on team mean girl, they'll find a way to get rid of you and gaslight, torture you in the process. If you stand for solid creativity, values, and work-life balance, you will not be happy at Granny. If you kiss up and kick down, you will be rewarded and promoted.
What is really scary now: they are trying to suppress the voices coming out about the abuse. Even though a large number of people have reported their poor behaviour. They are spending more time fighting negative reviews than learning how to treat their team, or taking responsibility for their actions. This shows that nothing has changed, and petty behaviour and game-playing is more important than actually bringing meaningful change. It is continued harassment. Sad.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
I have never witnessed such dishonesty, political power-plays, or incompetence as I have with Granny. Management pretends to be the victims in the problems they themselves create. The lack of insight and maturity is deeply disturbing.
The least the agency can do is start believing people who are telling the truth, to save the business. Read the writing on the wall, in spite of your egos. Stop enabling, promoting, and supporting the people destroying your culture.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
Bullies. Inconspicuous, manipulative, bullies - who always get what they want.
Kommunikation
Communication is opaque if available at all. Professional Gaslighting.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
There were some wonderful people there, but most have now quit in disgust or fired unfairly.
Work-Life-Balance
I worked a minimum of 50 hours a week, and during pitches between 60-80 hours a week. Only to be told to change everything again at short notice, because there are no processes. Expect long hours without appreciation, and a constant "you haven't done enough" attitude no matter what you do. You will be contacted at all hours, and people will literally try to have meetings within meetings.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Abusive, unfair and the source of most problems. Micromanaging and absent at the same time.
Interessante Aufgaben
Awesome clients (most of which are gone now), but no chance to do any quality work for them due to lack of process and interference.
Gleichberechtigung
I expected a more diverse, open minded culture and even feminism. All I saw was women actively hurting other women and colleagues being mocked for trying to uphold boundaries or mental health.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
Ageism, and no respect for colleagues with experience. In fact, the bullies in the team think they should have stronger titles without any skills or experience to back them up.
Arbeitsbedingungen
The office is like a metaphor for the agency itself. Beautiful, as you'd hope the agency to be. But empty and filthy in all the wrong places.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
There is no consideration for employee well-being, mental health, feminism, environment, diversity or "eye-level" communication, in spite of what they say their values are.
Image
Their entire image is a very convincing facade at first, but you soon realise how hypocritical it all is.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
The only way to get anywhere in Granny is to kiss up, and kick down. If you value integrity, you are in the wrong place.