Toxic Positivity and Micromanaging Ultimately Drove Me Away - Anonymous employee WebFX Employee Review

Without writing a novel on the complex issues here (which I could), I'll say that I was very excited to work here initially. The company does a great job of being welcoming, having fun, and providing fun employee incentives. However, as you progress more and take on more work, it becomes clear that incentives aren't really optional -- they are non-negotiable if you want to progress, earn raises, and avoid passive aggressive comments on your involvement and dedication with the company. If you do not engage in ongoing learning outside of work, engage with the company on social media, attend after-work events frequently, and go out of your way to be excessively positive constantly, you will be flagged by management as a problem. It's not enough to do your work well within working hours -- you need to go above and beyond (1% better) every day, and you need to "be on" constantly. Mental health is another issue -- while the company's founders are extremely kind, department managers are hyper-concerned with positivity to the point where they monitor all your interactions (privately and publicly) with your team and other team members, pointing out any time you do not seem 100% enthusiastic or use phraseology that isn't excessively exuberant. There is also heavy micromanaging and monitoring by "coaches" of every moment of your day, even when you have been there for years and always done good work. The element of trust is missing, and eventually you begin to feel like you need to put on a 24/7 show of positivity, enthusiasm, and hyper-dedication to your work, all while maintaining an always-growing workload that will only be rewarded with raises once per year (if you work the hardest you have ever worked). It's exhausting, and if you ever express that you are feeling burnt-out, need to set limits with your workload, or are not in the best mood ever (sometimes due to mental health concerns definitely driven by the environment of toxic positivity and overwork), management will monitor you even more heavily without ever providing support. In addition, relationships with other coworkers are heavily monitored and you will experience prying from management into the private concerns of your personal life and friendships. The experience of being told you're a great worker, but that you constantly need to be better and need to set yourself apart from other team members in order to rise above them, is isolating and emotionally draining. Additionally, team members who are absent for personal reasons or are no longer with the company are disregarded and never mentioned again. Eventually, I felt as if I had to try ten times as hard every day to be the most polished, positive, productive version of myself. The worst part was that I constantly questioned whether it was me that was the problem -- for not being positive enough despite how much effort and energy I put into this role every day. The discouragement eventually took away all my passion and drive for the job I worked so hard for, so I decided I'd be happier to leave.