Technically Brilliant, But Toxic Work Culture/Bad Leadership - Anonymous employee Monkedia Employee Review

I worked here for a couple years, and overall really enjoyed working with most of the colleagues I had during that time. The creative team was very collaborative. Not every project was super exciting but there was enough variety to keep the day-to-day interesting. I received multiple promotions during my time at Monkedia, so there was opportunity for growth though the ceiling seemed somewhat limited because it's not a huge team.

They finally implemented full-time remote work, which was great, but I ended up missing the in-person collaboration a lot. That's the primary reason I left for another opportunity, to be closer to family and have a hybrid job that included some office time. Also, after going remote it seems like some of what made the company culture special was lost, which I suppose is to be expected in a remote work setting.

Monkedia was once a genuinely good place to work. The original team was talented, collaborative, and committed. If you are reading this and considering a role here, know that the culture and quality of people that built this company's reputation are largely gone.

The business was sold roughly six months ago with virtually no warning to employees. The previous owner announced the sale via a quick video call to a handful of employees the day before it was finalized. The day of the sale the new owner sent out a company-wide email assuring everyone their jobs were safe. That turned out to not be true. In the months that followed, the new owner was largely absent and uncommunicative. He had to be encouraged by the existing leadership team just to introduce himself to staff. After that initial meeting, meaningful communication from him was essentially nonexistent. One of his first substantive request to senior staff was to find a cheaper replacement for a key technical employee. That set the tone for everything that followed: a relentless focus on cost cutting at the expense of people and quality. With less than 24 hours notice, a select group of employees received an email informing them their salaries would be reduced by 10%, effective the next day. No conversation, no warning, no negotiation. Over the following months, the majority of the core team was either laid off, pushed out, or left on their own. Expect technical and operational support to shift heavily to offshore resources. The institutional knowledge and talent that made this company worth anything when it was acquired is gone or leaving. The new owner has no demonstrated people management skills and treats employees as expendable assets rather than human beings. There is no vision, no leadership, and no investment in the people doing the work.