How to Recognize Dysfunctional Startup Leadership
caycon.com
caycon.com
A company I used to work for had a really great owner/etc, but their HR practices were the pits. Any attempt to tell them so was met with 'That's how everyone does it', even if it obviously wasn't.
The one time I brought something to their attention about someone above my head, I was told I should have taken it to HR instead of the owners. The person in question told me, "That's a serious charge. I could have lost my job." ... Yeah, it was. And I was serious. I still think it was illegal to this day, but I also don't think he's stupid enough to try it again, either, now. Upper management waffled a bit, but in the end, they seemed to settle on wishing I had not told them because they didn't want to do anything about it.
Despite all that, they are wildly successful.
* The CEO, in addition to his regular pay, takes a commission cut on every sale the company makes
* The CIO's new BMW is also paid as an expense of the company
* The CEO shoots down your recommendation for a bonus to one of the best employees in your department and instead offers them a $200 gift card
* The CIO & CEO make uptime a priority objective for the service - but when a plan is presented that shows that in order to meet that goal, funding will be required to bolster infrastructure, they refuse to fund the plan
* The CIO regularly makes changes to the production systems outside of any change control process and brings down the service while muttering things like "Well that wasn't supposed to happen"
* The CEO and C-level execs tell the company the option price is $X - then proceed to sell the company and inform everyone that the option price is actually 20% of $X and that those who have been with the company less than a year get nothing
* There is a foosball table and this is described in any company descriptions as a part of the "Culture"
That's generally a recipe for at best a horrible place to work, but most usually a failure.