Toxic culture, constant scrutiny, no support - WFH was the only positive.The good things(Please read this before you apply to any role within the VGSO)
To be completely honest, the only aspect of this role that I have genuinely enjoyed has been the 50/50 hybrid working arrangement. The flexibility to work from home has been the primary reason I have remained in the position. Without that flexibility, I would have resigned much earlier.
Beyond that, I have not found the workplace environment positive. The culture feels highly cliquey and hierarchical, particularly among longer-standing and more senior staff. There is a strong sense of back-channel communication, gossip, and people raising “concerns” about colleagues rather than addressing matters directly.
Very early in my time in the role (within the first month), issues were escalated to management about me despite there being no objective performance concerns. That experience was confronting and created an ongoing sense of being monitored rather than supported. It set the tone for my experience here.
The challengesIn my view, significant cultural improvement is required across the organisation.
In many workplaces, challenges tend to relate to discrete, fixable process issues. In contrast, the issues here feel systemic and cultural rather than operational. There appears to be a strong undercurrent of informal commentary, information filtering upward through indirect channels, and “concerns” being raised about colleagues without transparency or direct communication.
Very early in my tenure, matters were escalated to management about me despite there being no objective performance issues. This created an environment where I felt scrutinised rather than supported. Since then, I have felt that informal observations and second-hand commentary have carried more weight than open, direct conversations.
Over time, this has resulted in me feeling that the safest approach was to limit communication and keep to myself, as conversations seemed to circulate and become distorted.