Culture Checks

How to know when you're in a bad situation.

Jul 25, 2024

👋 Friends,

I hope your summer has been exhilarating.

If you like the cold plunge + sauna thing, I’ll be at Othership every week. It’s my favorite place in the city to find calm. Use “ANDREWYEUNG” for 10% off any of their classes.

I’ve also started to organize basketball and volleyball games for intermediate-advance level players. If you play, reply here and I’ll get something going.

Today’s piece is about Culture Checks - the green and red flags you should know to assess whether or not you’re in a healthy, productive work environment. Early on in my career, I was stuck in a bad situation. I just didn’t know it at the time, but I wish I had seen the signs earlier!

See you out there.

I don’t know a single person who has regretted leaving a job they disliked.

Maybe they didn’t like the work. Or hated their boss. Or were close to burning out.

But every single person I know who made the hard decision to leave a bad job had a better outcome after.

Every. Single. Person.

They either found a more fulfilling or higher paying job, transitioned into a different type of career, or quit corporate and did something they always wanted to do.

The toughest part about escaping a crappy situation is:

Being aware that you’re in one
Taking action

How do you know if you’re in a crappy situation? I recently turned to tech Twitter for advice.

Below, I share crowdsourced advice from the original thread, along with my own commentary:

✅ Green Flags

These are the indicators that you’re working in a healthy, productive, growth-oriented work environment.

Access to leadership. Executives want to build a longer table, not a higher wall. At small companies, this might mean that the CEO has lunch with the employees. At large companies, the Directors, VPs, and C-suite have open office hours and an “open-door” policy for employees.
Pays well. An obvious signal that the company values talent and will spend significant time and resources in search of the right people.
Tenure. A good average employee tenure is between 3-5 years. Anything too far below or above that timeframe is a red flag. It implies that the company culture is not cohesive to growing talent OR the employees that are complacent and stagnant. 3-5 years is the sweet spot.
High degree of professionalism. People are respectful to one another, speak with integrity, and come on time for meetings. Different companies have different flavors of this, and some are more casual than others, but at the end of the day, the office is a workplace - not a social club.
High Net Promoter Score (NPS). Former employees rave about the company and recommend it to friends. Glassdoor is prone to survey bias and may not be the best signal, but talk to 5 former employees and ask “Would you recommend a good friend work there?”
Company pride. Employees drink the Kool-aid, and company swag is worn with pride.
Friendship and community. Peers hang out and happily spend time together outside work. The greatest driver of retention is if someone has a good friend at work.
Boomerangs. Former employees come back. Great companies make it possible for people to leave on good terms and return on better one.
Transparency is built into the culture. Strong written and verbal communication exists within the culture, and employees always know the Why behind major decisions. Nobody is caught off-guard and surprised by changes in company direction.
Internal promotions. Loyalty is rewarded to a degree. Internal promotions are usually more cost-effective so if a company is not doing this, it signals poor hiring, onboarding, and retention.

🚩 Red Flags

On the flip side — what are the indicators that a company is not a good to work?

Here’s what Twitter said:

The company states that: “We’re like a family”. This was the most frequent response, which might seem counter-intuitive to some. “Family” workplaces seem to always disadvantage workers, who end up feeling pressure to prioritize the company above their own interests. Examples: lower pay, working longer hours, and avoiding pushing back on unfair policies.
Lack of performance feedback. I recommend explicitly asking for feedback on how to improve at your job every six months, at minimum. If you’re not receiving useful feedback, your manager isn’t doing his/her job.
Compensation growth does not scale with responsibilities. If you are consistently taking on more responsibilities without a pay raise, you could be taken advantage of.
High turnover. Frequent reorganizations and high attrition rates (less than a year) are strong indicators that employees lack faith in leadership and aren't finding growth opportunities. Or - worse: that become there are unkind and not collaborative.
Hiring and onboarding processes are a mess. These are usually correlated and are clear from the beginning of the interview process. Chaos, disorganization, and miscommunication within the hiring and onboarding are clear signs that internal priorities and communication are disjointed.
Misery. Talk to four employees at the company. How would you rate their energy and mood on a scale of 1 to 4? (1 → Miserable, 2 → Neutral, 3 → Happy, 4 → Euphoric). If the average score is a 1.5 or below, it’s a red flag.

Some of these are org-specific. Massive companies like Google have over 100,000 employees and can be seen as the product of dozens of smaller companies.

In those scenarios, the answer might be to exploring changing team rather than leaving the company

✔️ Take Action

If you’re stuck in a bad situation and want out, these are the things you should consider doing.

Broaden your network.

Reach out to your network (and your second-degree network) for exploratory calls. Ask them about their job, what they like and dislike about it, and what they would do if they were in your shoes. The best way to learn is through talking to smart people and asking them for advice.

Try this exercise:
Reach out to five people you previously worked or studied with
Get the full picture by spending 30 minutes asking them about every detail of their job
Ask them for a recommendation for someone to speak with next

Change your environment.

Go to niche events to meet inspiring people you normally wouldn’t spend time with. Raise the bar of who you surround yourself with.

Try this exercise:
Identify a topic you find interesting (e.g. space tech)
Do a Google or Linkedin search for events about that topic (e.g. space tech events)
Attend the event and aim to meet three people to follow up with

Increase and broaden your inputs.

Read new books and listen to new podcasts. Curate your media diet so that you’re learning every single day.

Try this exercise:
Ask your friends or peers to suggest a new book or podcast on a subject you're curious about
Read the book or listen to the podcast every day, and stop when you’ve learned something new that day
Repeat for thirty days

P.S. if you’re interested in this topic, here are two ways I can help:

Book a 1:1 with me to talk about tech careers, entrepreneurship, and brand-building
Join a group of vetted entrepreneurs and tech leaders at The OOO Summit – The Flagship Event For Entrepreneurs & Founders (use code “GROWTH” for $50 off)

📌 Andrew’s Bookmarks

Fascinating internet things I’ve come across…

All the startup accelerators you can apply for – I compiled a list of 20+ startup accelerators that provide funding (even pre-idea!)
Config 2024 Recordings – Figma hosted a product design and branding conference in June and while I did not attend, I did watch the recordings. It is a gold mine of wisdom for product managers, designers, and brand marketers.
“The Magic Loop” – Ethan Evans is an ex-Amazon Executive Vice President who now spends his time helping mid-level managers and senior execs level up. This is one of the frameworks he used while at Amazon to get promoted quickly.

💼 Job Board

Lead Product Manager, ResortPass
Growth Manager, Carry
Head of User Acquisition, 1v1 Me
Founding Engineer, Superpower
Chief of Staff, Eniac Ventures
Senior Product Manager, Rho
Head of Growth, Sidebar
City Launcher, POSH
Senior Groups & Meetings Specialist, citizenM Hotels
Senior Full-Stack Engineer, Cal.com
Have a job to share? Please reply to this email.

💃 Community Perks

🏨 Traveling for work? If you’re looking for a hotel with cozy rooms and social co-working areas, check out citizenM. I exclusively stay with them. They’ve even been kind enough to offer this community a discount. Reply here.
🚴 Discounted Equinox membership in NYC. Equinox is my second home - I couldn’t live without it. Reply here for a free trial and discounted membership.
🇺🇸 Looking for a US immigration lawyer? Reply here for an introduction to the lawyer I worked with for my O1A visa.
🍽️ FREE FOOD! I found an app that gives you 30%+ off fancy restaurants in NYC. AND $50 off your bill every month, plus $25 when you sign up. Not sure how long the offer will last. Sign up here.
What other perks should I include? Let me know.

🖼️ Behind the Scenes

Meet my friend Edwina.

We both started hosting events in NYC at the same time. Back in 2021, we were the only people who were bringing the community together.

A few years later, she’s built an events empire called Supermomos. They’ve hosted tens of thousands of people for dinners, mixers, and even conferences. She’s mastered the events and community game.

If you haven’t yet been to her events - you should go. Supermomos is known for their tech soirées.

On September 25, Supermomos is hosting the Summer Soirée for FAANG++ (and equivalent) companies and alumni. This is for the Google Product Managers, the Reddit UX Designers, and the Amazon Software Engineers, etc.

Want to meet others at big tech companies? Go to this. I’ll be there! Link here.

Use ANDREW for a free ticket.