I was flattered to be recruited by ICF, a company that I had admired from afar for a few years. The interview process was smooth, professional, and inspired much hope for what was to come. That is where the positive experiences stopped. I ended up being bait and switched, finding out that I had a new manager on day one (they had not been a part of any of my interviews). This had not been communicated to me by anyone and it was clear that I was not a welcome direct report to this person. Additionally, I was supposed to have 3-4 direct reports and never was given any, despite multiple promises and discussions over the course of months. Basically, everything that was promised to me during the interview process did not come to fruition. After the first week, I was given very little direction or guidance from my manager, often being left to scramble for something to do to remain "billable." This manager was very inaccessible to me, often leaving me on read for days at a time, while responding to other emails or group chats in the meantime. This person showed no interest in my professional development/goals or well being. Unfortunately, this was not an individual issue. The team culture of my line of business was incredibly toxic and cliquey. I found myself being bullied by senior managers and publicly shamed/made an example of on emails without cause. One senior manager berated me on a 1:1 call almost to the point of me being in tears for being late to an in-person meeting (due to forces out of my control) that I was coerced to attend, despite being hired as a remote employee. I spent many months trying to get plugged into projects and contribute my expertise but nearly all attempts were ignored/shut down and I was systematically kicked off program teams without notice or reason. In one instance my manager told me that the client didn't like me and when I asked them to share why or if there was any feedback, they said they just had a "hunch." Incredibly unprofessional! Along with that, internal communications were highly unprofessional where management would talk badly about clients and discuss topics such as our client rep's salary, among other highly inappropriate things. On some client calls, my manager interrupted and talked over the client to the point of making everyone in the meeting uncomfortable. My manager stranded me without work and I was forced to seek assignments from other managers outside of my division. Much of the work I ended up doing did not fall in line with the title that I was hired for (some even made me feel like I was a glorified intern). Furthermore, I was made aware that other people on the team gossiped and spread rumors about me, even while we were in-person at the office. When one of my colleagues dared to stand up for me in the midst of the bullying, they were retaliated against and blocked from the project group. Overall, I made a few attempts to get support within the company but was repeatedly treated like the enemy and like I had nowhere to turn. I spent nearly every day at ICF feeling deeply unvalued, mistreated, psychologically unsafe, and in fear that I would lose my job. I will never recommend this company to anyone I know.
