- This year, there were no annual salary increases for all, and no communication was provided until the very day when employees typically expect at least a modest adjustment. The quoted reason was that all salaries are above industry levels, but how can that be possible for all roles in all locations? This lack of transparency was disappointing. It’s particularly difficult to understand given the company's strong financial performance — continuing to post profits, pursue revenue growth, pay dividends, and acquire other companies. Meanwhile, inflation affects us all, and the cost of home working continues to rise. Acknowledging these realities with even a small increase would have shown appreciation and understanding of employees’ everyday challenges.
- The in-person CKO was cancelled and replaced with a short virtual session. This was disappointing and failed to provide the motivation and sense of connection that in-person events offer. Virtual meetings simply cannot replicate the value of face-to-face interaction. One quoted reason was due to our size, since we are now a slimmer org (following redundancies) that has been resolved.
In Engineering, we currently zero opportunities to meet in person and build meaningful relationships. Localised meet-ups are neither effective nor consistently funded (do not include all costs), and they fall short given our distributed presence across Europe.
- The company has recently undergone a significant round of redundancies, attributed to the adoption of large language models (LLMs). This has understandably impacted morale and raised concerns about job security and the future of our roles.
