UW is losing its magic: it's becoming a drab corporate for talkers rather than doers - Anonymous employee Utility Warehouse Employee Review

- A merry-go-round of new exec and VP leaders in Product and Engineering every few quarters causes chaos. There's no vision. There's no accountability for middle managers who talk but don't actually deliver or take ownership, as each new leader above them lacks the context on their (lack of) delivery against long-term metrics. Likewise good luck getting a promotion to recognise your achievements, as you might cycle through multiple line managers. - In the past year leadership rushed through large org changes that were half-baked like annual planning, OKRs and career frameworks. The end result has created an unnecessary, high burden on people leaders. Worse, with all the shifting priorities, ICs are stressed out trying to juggle delivery with "individual goals". This big bang of change has caused collateral damage. People are incentivised to optimise for themselves now and the team spirit is fraying. - Some roles like full stack engineers and analysts are paid well below market for the expectations. Exec leader made a big deal about how FAIRLY all roles are paid now, but that left a sour taste and demotivated many high performers in such roles. - Middle managers and execs have drunk the kool aid on AI as a silver bullet for problems but miss the bigger picture. More of them communicate via overpolished messages & docs. - This company is becoming more corporate in a negative sense under the current CEO. The magic this company had during Andrew's period is noticeably disappearing since he stepped aside. The "everything is a priority" culture came into its own in the past 2 years but accelerated under the ex-CPTO. The company had good tailwinds for growth years ago and leadership expects people to fulfil punchy OKRs plucked from thin air.