Operations1

Unternehmenskultur

I enjoyed working with most of the colleagues and even became friends with some over time. We had regular events organized by the company, which helped that this workplace felt like being among friends for some time. If it was just for the colleagues, this would be a good company to work for.
But work atmosphere is also how motivated you are and after a while, I felt stuck in my position. The feedback I got was mostly that I am doing everything well, but I still did not see any further development of my role and also felt that my work was never fully appreciated.

1. Communication from my direct supervisor(s): I had a couple of different supervisors during my time at Operations1. I had regular exchanges with all of them and asked for feedback regularly. The feedback I received was mostly good and I got the impression, that I am doing well and am helping to advance the company, but still never significantly advanced in my position.
2. Communication from mgmt. to all employees: There are weekly meetings where mgmt. reports on the state of business, which is good. But a lot of developments still came as a surprise and esp. in tougher times, it felt like mgmt. was not fully transparent on the current state and measures that are under consideration.
3. Mgmt. taking feedback from employees seriously: While there were feedback rounds where me and other colleagues provided criticism, e.g. for what felt like blown-up processes, mgmt. seemed to get overly defensive. So I never felt like these sessions actually helped to change something but were just to blow off steam.

I enjoyed working with most of the colleagues and am still friends with some of them even after I left. But when I left, there were some situations that in the aftermath make me feel like not everyone was always honest with me.

As most clients of Operations1 are machine manufacturers with early start-times and early end of days, work-life balance felt good for me as well. I always felt like as long as I get my work done, everyone is fine with me managing my worktime myself.

This is very related to communication. As I felt like I was never fully in the loop of what was going on in the mgmt., I also felt like my supervisors were never fully honest with me.
In the beginning, I felt like my supervisors were interested in advancing my position. But as soon as business got tougher, I did not feel supported any longer.
I also felt like leadership was lacking empathy, as they did not seem to realize that some of the criticism that was brought forward was due to me (and colleagues) feeling like they were losing autonomy and at the same time didn't fully understand the state of business.
While I get that my criticism is probably not always as constructive as I would wish it to be, I expect someone with a leadership title to be able to take a step back and work on solutions jointly.
To me, a great leader is someone I like to follow not because they always agree with me, but because even when we disagree, I feel like I am being heard and my thoughts are taken into consideration.
Lastly, when someone leaves a company, no matter in which way, I think leaders should always ask for feedback on the offboarding, even if they might suspect that it will be harsh.

The product is cool and valuable and working on it is fun. Before leaving, I felt like there was no room for advancement anymore, which is why this isn't full stars. But until then, I found that work was distributed fairly and I had tasks that I enjoyed doing.