From company with good dev cluture to toxic environment - SDE-2 Instahyre Employee Review

I have been with Instahyre for several years and have seen both highs and lows because we believed in the company’s vision and had faith in the leadership. I’ve had the privilege of working with some excellent managers in the past, many of whom I deeply respect. But, they’ve moved on in pursuit of their own career goals. The work environment shifted dramatically after the appointment of the current HOE (one can check LinkedIn to know who this is). Since then, the culture has become increasingly toxic, driving away even some of the most loyal employees who had always stood by Instahyre. Specific issues: 1. Micromanagement: Colleagues are frequently pinged every few hours, even for low-priority tasks, creating unnecessary stress and hampering productivity. 2. Threat-based management: Juniors are often threatened with unrealistic deadlines, warnings of PIP, or even salary cuts tactics if those deadlines aren't met that create fear rather than motivation. 3. Neglect of code quality: The only priority is meeting arbitrary deadlines, with little regard for maintainability or long-term stability of the product. This short-sighted approach inevitably leads to bugs and technical debt which we worked so hard to fix this past year. 4. Weekend work pressure: Devs are often asked to work on weekends, even when the tasks do not warrant such urgency, adding to burnout and resentment. Past practices (thankfully reduced after pushback from the dev team): - Arbitrary rejection of WFH requests, even during genuine emergencies (e.g., public transport disruptions due to heavy rains, personal emergencies). - Denial of pre applied leave requests without valid reasons. Leave is a basic employee right, and whether someone takes it for personal emergencies or simply to rest and recharge - even if that means staying home and watching Netflix. It should be respected as long as it is within their leave balance. Overall, the current leadership style under current HOE has eroded trust and morale across the team. It’s disheartening to see colleagues who were once fully committed to Instahyre now actively considering leaving, simply because they no longer wish to work under such management.