Pet Circle – Less puppies and rainbows, more instability and gaslighting - Anonymous Employee Pet Circle Employee Review

* Toxic culture: In 20+ years of working, I’ve never seen a company culture this unhealthy. People don’t quit—they vanish. My entire team disappeared in under a year, with no transparency or accountability. * No value on people: You’re treated as a tool, not a person. There’s no career development, no performance reviews, no feedback, no goals—just tasks to complete and orders to follow. * Fear-based leadership: The CEO operates with unchecked arrogance, especially on topics where he lacks relevant experience, fostering a culture of fear, micromanagement, and silencing. * Yes-men environment: Genuine, thoughtful voices are pushed out. Empowering, nurturing leaders—some even pregnant—are made “redundant” without warning. * CTO adds no value: Completely lacks strategic leadership. Repeats the CEO verbatim and can’t even seem to figure out how to use his own smartphone. Quick to assign blame, but takes no accountability for his missteps. * Office is bleak: Being forced into a soulless, overly lit office (under the guise of “startup culture”) left me feeling drained, depressed, and physically unwell. * Not a startup: They brand themselves as a scrappy startup, but they’ve been around over a decade. The “startup” excuse is used to justify poor culture, no structure, and disorganisation. * No space for different thinking: A former employee warned me: “They want a culture fit, not a culture add.” I didn’t listen. If you challenge the norm, you’ll be edged out. * Regret: I left this job feeling undervalued, unchallenged, and bored. That says it all.