Recent company-wide 'Culture and Inclusion Survey' results have been devastating across all departments, especially compared to what Adyen once was. Honeymoon new-joiners aside, these Glassdoor reviews too start speaking for themselves as more and more people abandon ship.
Adyen chooses to look after shareholders first. This can sometimes be necessary in a competitive environment, but the company has a problematic gap in Leadership capability, especially in middle management. Despite this more layers seem to keep being added again and again. Individual Contributors, who make up 80% of the company, end up paying the price as plummeting reviews, overall morale in the office and sharply increasing turnover clearly show.
Key themes:
- Favoritism is rampant: Management consistently seems to reward a select few, regardless of performance or contribution. This creates resentment and discourages others from giving their best.
- Micromanagement stifles productivity: Instead of trusting employees to do their jobs, managers seem to hover, nitpick, and second-guess decisions. Middle managers, many of whom were promoted with no relevant leadership experience but (now) enjoy excellent travel- and compensation benefits seem to be more worried about saving their "I am a manager in a Global FinTech" Instagram-lifestyle than actually solving the problems their teams face by introducing useless metrics and targets, so they have something to report up the chain of command and place the blame elsewhere.
- Unrealistic expectations and work pressure: Due to this, the workload is excessive, and there’s little acknowledgment of the strain this puts on employees. Burnout is very common, and there’s no support or recognition for the extra effort.
- Lack of respect for employees: Suggestions and concerns are dismissed outright, and feedback is not taken seriously at all, fostering a culture where employees feel unheard and undervalued.
