KIA 

MOTORS 

Europe 

GmbH

Unternehmenskultur

Kia Europe’s culture is dominated by fear, control and distrust, leading management to adopt a defensive or aggressive posture whenever employees raise concerns or ask questions.

The company motto, “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions,” is often used to shut down open communication, discouraging team members from speaking up unless they have an immediate solution.

This fear-based approach backfires growth, limits innovation, and keeps employees from addressing genuine challenges that need collaborative solutions.

Kia Europe’s approach to communication reflects its broader culture of blame and mistrust.

Managers often discuss colleagues disrespectfully in open spaces. This lack of professionalism discourages open communication.

Public reprimands are common, and new employees are often introduced to this environment with minimal onboarding or training.

The command-and-control management styles creates an environment of fear and high stress, making it difficult to communicate issues effectively.

While team members are generally friendly, management’s authoritarian style creates a stressful, hostile atmosphere.

Collaboration takes a back seat to a hyper-competitive environment.

Although management believes this drives performance, it only fosters unrealistic achievement standards, causing friction and undermining teamwork.

Work-life balance is nearly non-existent at Kia Europe.

Staff frequently put in overtime due to chronic understaffing and unreasonable workloads, and employees are often unable to compensate for this extra time.

Many in management work 10 to 12 hours a day, struggling to manage their overwhelming workload, which has led some to burnout.

This culture of constant overwork creates a sense of urgency that leaves employees spending long hours at their desks, often unable to take regular breaks.

It is common to see employees running to and from the restroom, trying to keep up with their tasks, and even being required to log time spent having a coffee unless it’s directly work-related.

Interactions with my manager were the least favorable part of my experience.

My manager routinely exhibits toxic behaviors, including gaslighting, gossiping, sarcasm, passive aggression, and constant criticism, aimed at keeping employees under strict control.

Interns and junior employees are often on the receiving end of humiliating treatment, frequently breaking down in tears, eroding their self-confidence and affecting their career aspirations.

In general, management’s focus on minor issues often leads to relentless micromanagement, while important, high-level objectives are ignored.

Employees are expected to operate with zero error tolerance, and any perceived “failure” is met with passive-aggressive comments and sarcastic remarks.

Constructive guidance is rare; instead, employees face criticism without any direction on how to improve. This feedback often feels designed to undermine rather than help, leaving employees in a state of perpetual self-doubt.

It is particularly concerning that new hires are subjected to this treatment from the start, with almost no onboarding support.

Employees are often assigned unfamiliar tasks with tight deadlines and little to no instructions.

This pressure to perform without any support makes for an unsustainable workload.

This paired with poor project planning and constant “firefighting” keep employees under time pressure, adding to an already tense atmosphere.

Tasks are often outdated and inefficient, with many assignments easily automatable.

However, a lack of digital literacy in management means that inefficient, repetitive tasks continue to take up time.

Employees regularly spend excessive hours refining PowerPoint slides and updating old Excel files, tasks that add little value but remain a staple of the company’s operations.