Toxic culture at the top, frontline folk lovely
Pros
I met some fantastic, very talented people who I came to call friends while working at Insights. None of these people were senior managers.
Cons
Unfortunately, there is a very serious 'them and us' divide at Insights. Where to start with Insights?! Senior leaders across all functions are near-parodies of a corporate nightmare - many have totally made-up job titles and do next to nothing of any practical use. Meanwhile Insight's life-changing product is delivered to clients as a clunky, chunky PDF, unchanged since the 90s. Salaries are high at upper and senior manager level, meaning so many are coasting, with no motivation to tackle problems, or speak truth to power (Fiona et al) about what's actually happening and why so many are leaving. In my department alone, more than half of those who were there when I started left within 2 years. But senior managers are not the slightest bit interested in rocking the boat, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. I'm convinced exit interviews are shredded the moment the person is out the door! Issues including serious ineptitude, as well as a toxic team culture are robustly covered up by Heads Of (something they DO do well), and senior managers spend all day every day making themselves look busy by preparing lengthy Power Points and having endless meetings over coffee, using Americanised vernacular, and showy surface-level team building exercises to kill time. While Fiona takes time out of her busy All Hands schedule to spend a once-in-a-lifetime trip exploring Antarctica congratulating herself on what an incredible leader she is, tensions bubble on the frontline and people continue to leave in droves. 9 of the Marketing team have left in the past 3 years. In any other organisation there would be questions, but the workforce is infinitely replaceable at Insights.
