Toxic Leadership & Micromanagement Killed the Culture - Senior Experience Designer PPL Employee Review

1.0
Aug 8, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Competitive pay and benefits. Talented peers (outside of leadership). Opportunities to work on meaningful CX and service design initiatives — when not being blocked by management.

Cons

Leadership issues across both the CX and Service Design teams severely impacted morale and productivity. I was transferred from CX to Service Design without any input, primarily because I had a voice and advocated for fairness — something not welcomed by my manager. A newly hired lead, with little relevant knowledge, was favored and trusted over experienced team members. This led to dysfunction, poor decision-making, and eventually, I was pushed off the team. On the Service Design team, leadership was toxic. The manager was controlling, unsupportive, and regularly took credit for others’ work. Micromanagement was extreme — even emails were scrutinized line by line. Despite 10+ years of professional experience, I was not trusted to communicate with stakeholders or participate in strategic discussions. Favoritism and exclusion were common, and recognition was only given to a select few. Leadership generally operated in silos, lacked transparency, and created a demoralizing work environment where trust and autonomy were practically nonexistent.

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5.0
Jun 1, 2026
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Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

strong team work, very supportive

Cons

remote work related issues, mostly IT

4.0
Apr 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Engineering team is young and open for innovative ideas. Everyone supports and respects each other and willing to help and learn from each other. As a contractor - it is a very smooth and stress-free work experience.

Cons

Might be little bureaucratical when it comes to paperwork & processes but this is a large utility so this is expected or even required. People tend to rotate a lot and it makes it difficult to find support & training but everyone understand it and there is no pressure on workload most of the time allowing you to finish the job without a lot of pressure.

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