adidas has become obsessed with reducing costs to beat Nike that it became a detriment to the quality of work we were able to produce. A lot of teams operating on basically 50% capacity while the company is still expecting to grow financially, with no real direction on how to manage added workload. For over 18 months we were in a 'hiring freeze', with no communication on how long it would last. Many of my colleagues were put on temporary contracts and left in limbo when their contracts were coming to an end, often not told what was happening until the very last minute. Pay is relatively bad compared to the same roles at similar companies, because they feel that staff should 'feel lucky to work here', and 'there are thousands of other people that would kill for your position.' They talk about caring about the mental health of employees, and they have counsellors onsite, but don't do anything to reduce stress in your actual day to day role. Extremely bureaucratic, a large portion of workload exists just to tick boxes, taking away from ability to develop and try new things. Also very political, jobs are given to people that 'fit the image' i.e posh and white. Roles just handed to graduates to maintain their graduate retention percentage, even when someone else has demonstrated their ability and enthusiasm for the role consistently and with dedication. Cringeworthy diversity conversations, but no change in the makeup of the board or senior leadership.
