Where shall I start? Everything started pretty well. I mean, the recruiting process -
charming people over the people, and... well, that's it! I should have taken the working contract as a warning. Apart from the correct salary (correct for Berlin), there's nothing left to appreciate about it. 20 days of holidays? That's the minimum you can expect. Strangely enough, I discovered that not all employees have the same amount of holidays, no matter if they have the same position in the company. Some may have 24 while others have 20 days. It depends on how lucky you are. I guess it must be some kind of lottery which decides what your future will be like. This is the first time I see this!
This is how I started working for this so-called start-up (with more than 2,000 employees...) with a so-called flat hierarchy. None of this is true. The management is... well... was there anyone we can call a manager? Getting an answer for a mail may take from 1 week to 3 months. But it generally takes 3 months more than 1 week. And be sure that the managers will always tell us that we don't work enough. How are we supposed to complete our tasks when the managers don't trust us and don't let us post anything without their prior consent? Of course it is impossible! And yet, I should add that the mindset of this company also is as such: quantity over quality. For instance, let's imagine that one campaign was first launched in Spain, and they now want you to do the exact same campaign for Italy. Why adapting it to the new market and taking into account the fact that laws considerably differ in both countries? Why doing that when you can literally translate it? Of course, it takes less time not to look for new information but how can a company be considered as trustful as long as employees are asked not to provide trustful work? Infantilisation is the one word that should depict what the management is like at Auto1. As long as you are not a manager, you are a child that needs to be taught. For that sake, you are more than "welcomed" to attend some compulsory training sessions which are always planned at 6.30 in the evening, when you are supposed to come back home. Should you miss one of them, don't forget to give a note (from your mommy, I guess?), otherwise your future might be dark in this company. Yes, this is how it works...
The only thing that matters to the top-managers (all men, it goes without saying) is... money. That sounds logical. After all, this is what all companies are for - generating income. It is nonetheless their one and only issue. That many of their employees cry at their desk is of no concern to them. That none of them appreciate their job is not as well. That they help them build a respected society that they can all be proud of... what's the point, the top-managers seem to say? And from what I got, being a successful employee when you are a woman is something that very much surprises them... even Travis Kalanick would have been fired right from the start for saying what the top-managers may dare to say from time to time!
I don't know how I stayed one year in this company. One thing for sure: what a shame to announce that your former employer was Auto1. It will always be a blot on my CV. In Auto1 we don't trust! That would be one hell of motto...
