Values, transparency and belonging. It sounded promising at first. The reality slowly dismantled this. They will try hard to attract you with a good offer, that is the first red flag.
It started with the hiring process: disorganized, excessive and unclear. I thought it was just 'startup chaos'. It wasn’t. It was a warning.
Once inside, the chaos became constant.
There is no stable direction. Priorities change weekly. Decisions are reversed without explanation. Teams are pushed to deliver on shifting goals with no resources or clarity. Everything feels urgent. Nothing is planned.
Work becomes your life.
Late nights, weekends, holidays, sick days, all blurred together. You stay online because everyone else is. You answer messages because not answering is risky. PTO becomes a formality. Many employees learn quickly that being open about serious health or family issues can put their job security at risk.
You slowly stop noticing how exhausted you are.
There is effectively no functional HR department. It’s called a “People Team” which in itself is a red flag. Employee issues are ignored even when someone quits or burns out. The People department operates without an experienced executive leadership, The function lacks the structure, experience and consistency required to support the team, other departments and leaders properly. Success within the function appears to depend more on a personal relationship than on competence or merit.
Leadership is unpredictable and intimidating.
Public questioning, slack call outs are normalized. The CEO’s change of mood impacts entire teams. One mistake can define you. One disagreement can isolate you. People learn to stay quiet, agree and survive.
Diversity and inclusion exist in presentations, not in practice.
Hiring and layoffs reflect the same dysfunction. People are recruited aggressively, promised growth and then removed, sometimes within months or within the same week of being hired. Entire teams disappear. The message is clear: you are replaceable.
Meanwhile, leadership focuses on appearances.
Energy goes into branding, messaging and reputation management, while internal systems are broken and employees are drowning. There is a noticeable gap between many internal experiences and the overly positive public reviews, which raises questions about how authentic some feedback truly is.
The company looks healthy from the outside. Internally, it is unstable and deteriorating.
The breaking point comes quietly.
You are tired all the time. You are anxious before meetings. You hesitate before speaking or even when doing your job. You feel guilty for resting. You stop feeling proud of your work. And yet, you stay because your coworkers are amazing. You begin to share your experiences just to survive. Many stay longer than they should out of loyalty to their teammates.
Eventually, you have to choose yourself.
Staying means accepting burnout, emotional pressure, unequal treatment and instability as normal.
If you’re reading this while considering an offer: Don’t ignore this. Employees have been raising the same concerns for years (Check all the reviews and how many likes those have) Please don’t leave a stable job for this. It’s not worth the risk.
