Toxic culture, poor transparency, and unfair treatment of the India team - IT Manager Apply Digital Employee Review

Feedback on My Experience at Apply Digital I worked with Apply Digital’s India team and, based on my experience, there were several serious red flags in the company’s culture, leadership style, and treatment of employees. I had been wanting to share this feedback for a while because the issues were not isolated incidents; they reflected a larger pattern in how the India team was perceived and managed. 1. India Team Was Not Treated as Equal Colleagues One of the biggest red flags was the way the India team seemed to be treated compared to teams in North America, LATAM, and other global regions. Instead of being treated as equal contributors, the India team often felt like an assistant/support team. There was a visible lack of respect for the work, opinions, and concerns coming from Indian employees. When things went wrong, it often felt like Indian team members became easy scapegoats for inefficiencies or poor decisions elsewhere. This created a very unfair working environment where accountability did not seem equal across regions. 2. Lack of Transparency and Poor Communication There was very little transparency in how decisions were made, especially around structural changes, layoffs, performance concerns, and internal processes. Employees were often left confused about expectations, priorities, and the real reasons behind major decisions. Instead of open communication, there seemed to be a culture of selective information-sharing, where only certain people had access to leadership or influence over narratives. This lack of transparency made the workplace feel unstable and unsafe. 3. Toxic Internal Politics Another major issue was the internal politics. In my experience, having close relationships with leadership appeared to matter more than actual performance or quality of work. Certain individuals seemed to have direct access to leadership and could influence opinions by sharing biased, exaggerated, or even baseless narratives about Indian team members. This created an unhealthy environment where employees could be judged not by their work, but by what was being said about them behind closed doors. A workplace where perception and favoritism matter more than contribution is not a healthy workplace. 4. Unfair Rules and Unequal Expectations for Indian Employees There were several new rules and processes introduced that appeared to apply mainly, or more strictly, to Indian employees. The frustrating part was that when Indian team members raised valid concerns that other teams were not following the same processes, those concerns were not welcomed. Instead, questioning unfair treatment could put employees in a vulnerable position. It felt like Indian employees were expected to quietly follow rules, even when the same standards were not applied globally. 5. Layoff Culture and Job Insecurity Layoffs seemed to be very common, and the company appeared to have normalized sudden terminations. Employees could be let go immediately, with little warning or meaningful discussion. What made this worse was that, instead of honestly acknowledging business or structural reasons, the company could position exits as performance-related. This is deeply unfair to employees, especially when the real issue may be poor business planning, restructuring, or leadership decisions. A company should take responsibility for its own decisions instead of putting the burden on employees. 6. Poor Recognition for Good Work Good work by Indian employees was not recognized the way it should have been. There seemed to be a bias where contributions from India were undervalued or taken for granted. No matter how much effort people put in, recognition often depended more on visibility, relationships, or proximity to leadership than actual impact. This can be extremely demotivating for people who are genuinely working hard and delivering results. 7. Unprofessional HR Experience My experience with HR in India was extremely disappointing. HR should ideally be neutral, mature, confidential, and capable of handling sensitive matters professionally. Instead, the experience felt careless, defensive, and lacking in empathy. There appeared to be poor handling of employee exits, communication, and documentation. In some cases, the way termination or separation matters were handled made the process feel even more disrespectful. For a company already going through structural issues, HR should have been more responsible and humane — not more dismissive. 8. Company Decisions Were Mismanaged, Employees Paid the Price From my perspective, many of the problems employees faced were the result of poor business or structural decisions by the company. However, instead of owning those decisions honestly, the burden was shifted onto employees. People were impacted suddenly, their performance was questioned, and their exits were handled poorly. That is not leadership. That is mismanagement. 9. Work Culture Was Not Truly Work Culture The company may speak about culture, collaboration, and values, but my personal experience did not reflect that. The culture felt more dependent on favoritism, internal politics, and pleasing the right people than on actual work. Employees who raised concerns or questioned unfairness were not encouraged; they were made to feel unsafe. That is not a healthy work culture. That is a toxic environment. Final Feedback Based on my experience, I would not recommend Apply Digital as a workplace, especially for Indian employees who expect fairness, respect, transparency, and equal treatment. If this company ever restarts operations or hires again in the future, my honest advice to anyone considering it would be to think very carefully before joining. A job should offer professional growth, dignity, and a respectful work environment. No workplace is perfect, but employees should not have to deal with unfair treatment, regional bias, poor transparency, sudden layoffs, toxic politics, and unprofessional HR practices. There are better opportunities and healthier workplaces where people are valued for their work, not for their proximity to leadership. Apply Digital, in my experience, failed to provide that.