Red flags at new job?

15 Comments

1. JB09718March 7,2025 at 4:05AM UTC

   Personally, I get a little panicked when I hear management saying “we’re a family” or anything along those lines.

2. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 1:16PM UTC

   YES! It's been my experience that companies that say this have very little work/life balance; they literally expect you to put them before your own family!

3. AnonymousMarch 7,2025 at 9:43PM UTC

   Trust your gut. I’ve seen some really crazy behavior that I tried to chalk up to small company in transition. It turned out bad for me each time. If your gut says run, Run!

4. AnonymousMarch 8,2025 at 2:23AM UTC

   Senior manager gossiping on work calls in the office, colleague spreading a malicious lie to others in the workplace, mandatory constant picture taking at work.

5. AnonymousMarch 8,2025 at 4:07AM UTC

   I can definitely relate to those especially the gossiping on work calls especially while sitting in an open setting and managers backstabbing each other, also in an open setting.

6. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 1:48PM UTC

   I agree, and not just management gossip but widespread office gossip! I once worked for a company that would fire, on the spot, ANYONE caught gossiping! All employees were told upfront that gossiping of any kind was NOT permitted and grounds for automatic dismissal. And yes, within my first week there a senior employee was terminated in front of the entire office for spreading vicious rumors about another employees recent surgery. I noticed that employees were relaxed and extremely respectful of one another and it instantly made me feel comfortable. Unfortunately the company went out of business due to an ever changing market, but it was a great place to work!

7. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 1:18PM UTC

   I started my first software engineer roll in a contract position. A week into working, I restarted interviewing elsewhere because of the following:

   - the CEO asked me to scope out how I could make a version of the Google Maps API from scratch so that the company could save money. To me, this led me to think the boss had skewed expectations for his engineers and for meeting deadlines on projects

   - a senior engineer often called me on the weekends to ask questions about the code. I felt concerned about the boundary being breached because it was outside of working hours and I was explicitly told that all work must be done in the office.

   - there was no code review process and code was often checked into the main branch with bugs

   - the boss, PM, and a staff engineer publically shared stories about their wives that were sexually explicit.

   After these occurrences, I felt encouraged to leave ASAP. I continued interviews and ultimately left the contract job after 4 months.

   I would have left sooner. However, my financial runway was running out and I prioritized the ability to pay my mortgage instead of interviewing elsewhere full time.

8. GirlBossanova934974March 10,2025 at 1:26PM UTC

   There are a million stories for a million companies.....Each one is different. MOST of the time, things start out well and go downhill. Perhaps if you let the readers know what you were experiencing, that might be helpful. MANY organizations these days have seen a general turnover in the managerial ranks in the last few years. In many cases, the replacements are learning on the job and are doing stuff which is not in their best interest of the company's best interest. They don't know any better........

9. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 4:55PM UTC

   Thank you for your response and suggestion. I added a comment based on my experience. I would love any feedback you have based on these. I think your insight on the manager situation explains several of these.

10. GirlBossanova934974March 11,2025 at 5:11PM UTC

    I have read your six observations. Based upon my 40 years of job experience, the last one is the most important one............The rest derive from that.

    "Team managers hired just to be people managers and not having knowledge of the service or product being managed."

    Boy, have I seen that one before!!

    And what do many managers do when they don't know what they are doing, especially today? They start blaming other people and other organizations. FINGER POINT ad nauseum. Then the rumor mill starts up. People start leaving etc etc.

    HR should be keenly aware of this and SHOULD be stepping in. Pals, buddies, and chums are being hired instead of qualified personnel. BUT in many cases as in this case, HR is a collection of employees with ZERO HR training and education......

    I would try to see if things get better for a few months and then look elsewhere. Managers come and go. You might get lucky if a new manager comes in. Luck of the draw and that sort of thing.

11. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 4:51PM UTC

    OP here: all the comments have been very helpful but wanted to add some of the things I witnessed based on one of the comments:

    1. Turnover not just within the team but the company. Most people moved internally. The average time in each role was 18 months max. People moved mostly laterally not into promotions and across a variety of departments. This was not a rotational program.
    2. Blaming other teams which seems to have hindered collaboration for fear that if something goes wrong, fingers would be pointed at you.
    3. Senior managers and leadership (VPs) undermining each other and speaking negatively about each other in an open floor setting.
    4. Overheard one employee who sounded to be a people manager compare two employee’s ambition level and attribute it to their ages (one was younger and other was older). Basically things they tell you NOT to say in mandatory HR trainings.
    5. Comments about colleague income level - “he’s rich” or “so and so acts modest but they have money”. A comment was even made to me from a VP about her not having a trust fund (I don’t either) likely because of the university I attended.
    6. Team managers hired just to be people managers and not having knowledge of the service or product being managed.

    It was certainly very different from any other place I’ve worked. I’m wondering if it’s just me or if others would consider these red flags. Some are more obvious than others. Also looking to see if there’s anything else I should watch out for. I’ve been fortunate to have gone this long without having experienced any of these until recently.

12. AnonymousMarch 11,2025 at 12:34PM UTC

    Lateral Moves are not a bad thing. - How do they fit into your bigger picture. I took many lateral moves in order to broaden my knowledge and skill sets and yes to make me more marketable in the company and outside of the company. I have done this in all 4 of fortune 500 companies I have worked in. My current company I started in Logistics and moved to IT years ago. In IT, I have moved around - granted I am not an coder/Application developer(nor do I want to be) but there are so many other opportunities within IT that are drawing on the skills and knowledge I have gained over the years in different roles, industries, and companies .

    Get involved in some activities or groups and demonstrate your initiative, abilities, etc. Make those network connections. You never know when one of them will come in handy in helping you move to another area for greater opportunities. Mine came at one company where I helped with the March of Dimes company fundraiser and a Director there told me on walk day she would love to have me on her team if an opening ever occurred. 4 months later she had an opening in Transportation - I had no actual transportation experience, but my organizational skills, initiative, and team building is what she wanted more of in her department. I interviewed and was offered the position. I took it - there might have been a small increase or maybe not, I honestly don't remember. I know in my current company based on salary bands some of my moves have not been rewarded with money, but the experience others have resulted in monetary increases.

13. AnonymousMarch 10,2025 at 6:05PM UTC

    Why the onboarding experience? Many companies don't have the budget or the resources for a great onboarding experience. Large corporations do but often smaller companies hire folks who jump right in and just get stuff done. Yes, you are being too critical and not focusing on the right things if that is what a red flag is. Instead why not keep track in your first 30-60-90 days of what you have that is good and what you need that is not good or where you might need a helping hand, no matter the size of the company. Then share these items with your direct manager in a productive way so that you can thrive in whatever their environment is. Hopefully with their help to solve and add those things. Expectations when you don't know what you are getting into in a new role is often the reason folks fail, they expect too much and instead of taking the first 3 months to absorb and learn get worried they aren't getting what they believe they deserve. Learn your environment, the inner workings, the mechanics and the communication paths and use those to your advantage to excel.

14. Lynn VerHelstMarch 10,2025 at 10:27PM UTC

    I’ve always been able to tell right away, whether a place is for me. Trust your gut.

15. AnonymousMarch 11,2025 at 12:37PM UTC

    I have worked at several Fortune 500 companies. Two were excellent and one was truly terrible. The good ones were different experiences in onboarding but the common denominator was that my boss continued to check in with me daily or every couple of days to get my feedback on how things are progressing. The bad one literally sent me an email to do onboarding entirely alone and no clear guidelines on whom I should reach out to for introductions and information to learn the business. My boss at this company also did not include me in her weekly meetings with her other direct reports. That should have been my first red flag to high tail it out. Because even after asking several times to be included I never was. The other red flag is the volume of people leaving and coming in all the time. I wish you luck! It is never easy.