Atom Learning Reviews

The reviews that say 'startups are not for everyone' are really just disguising that this is a three year company that still does not have any formal career progression for employees, so it is impossible to know how to progress. They do not have an HR department, so it's unclear how you can express these frustrations other than to your direct manager, who has no power over promotions or salary. This is because senior leadership do not know how to delegate responsibility to people they hire, despite those people being incredible at what they do. The complete lack of progression is evident in that qualified people are only advanced when others are fired - if that, as they'll also just hire people in to senior roles. Benefits and salary are not competitive, although SLT say they are 'market rate' - when you try to show research showing other roles with similar profiles with higher salaries, they ignore you. Of the people I know who left, they all received around a 10-20% increase just on their starting salaries, which SLT are aware of, so it continues to stun me they're willing to just lose talented people by not increasing salaries to what the market actually pays. The pension scheme is low, and there is no real medical or wellness benefit, again there are other startups/smaller tech companies that have better benefits. There is a definite culture of fear, because while there is the chance to take ownership of projects, the targets set are unrealistic and people are let go with no warning. Everyone ends up doing work outside their role because they're continually pressuring people to perform more than is possible in a normal working day - I regularly worked late nights to hit targets. The reviews that say 'cultures of freedom and responsibility aren't for everyone' are so misleading because people are happy to take on responsibility but are then punished when the SLT decide to prioritise something else. Overall, the senior leadership don't respect their team enough to provide progression, competitive salary or benefits, and ultimately don't seem to care when they lose good people. Atom can't continue to grow while it is so mismanaged and dysfunctional internally.

The culture they advertise is nothing like the reality in my experience. I was told they prided themselves on freedom, responsibility, autonomy and learning from mistakes. Instead I've found the senior team unable to allow team members and department heads to do their jobs, constantly changing priorities, targets, goals and even job roles and don't stop to hear from each employee before making a judgement or decision and taking control/giving out orders. Lack of trust in their employees means that no matter what, they will seek to place blame with someone, and I've seen many people scapegoated and fired without warning when performance isn't hitting certain very high targets. Targets seem to be plucked from thin air and there is literally not enough time in the day to achieve them. Working late is therefore pretty much a requirement and never appreciated. The idea of learning from your mistakes is a farce given that you are rarely given time to do so before someone jumps in and tells you how to do your job. Integrity is in short supply - I've been told many times to make up customer reviews and have seen promises broken/employees sold a dream that doesn't materialise. Everyone is told they're on a path to greatness/being a manager but they'll almost always hire someone in to a senior role limiting your chance of progression. They also have a habit of hiring you for one role and asking you to do a different role a week or so before you're due to start. There are no processes for managing HR issues; don't expect to them to have the common courtesy of discussing your performance with you before they terminate your employment (even post-probation). Every week you hear about people being let go and others being hired so insecurity has become the company's culture, especially when you see it happen to people who you know were doing their best and ultimately overstretched. Even if your line manager is supportive & understanding that counts for nothing when one of the SLT decides you're at fault. Sadly, this approach is not one that will lead Atom to success - in the short term people can be motivated by stress and anxiety, but this is not conducive to longevity and without that Atom will always be hiring new people and faltering.