Employees here aren’t rewarded for performance. They’re rewarded based on how well they stay in the good books of top leadership and how convincingly they can pass that off as “leadership.”
You can work hard, keep your head down, and consistently go beyond expectations, and it won’t really change much. Recognition is rare, and effort alone doesn’t get you very far.
What does seem to work is knowing when to agree, when to nod, and how to present things in a way leadership wants to hear. If you get that right, you’ll be seen as someone with “leadership potential.” Some people already are.
Leadership itself feels very top-down. Most decisions come from a single voice, and the rest of the structure tends to follow rather than challenge it.
HR, managers, and senior folks don’t always feel empowered to act independently, which shows in how decisions are made and communicated.
Appraisal season is probably the most frustrating part. It drags on longer than it should (sometimes nearly 3 months), the pressure builds up, and by the end of it, most people feel more exhausted than appreciated.
