It’s taken me time to put into words my experience working as a lead on the digital marketing team at Linen Chest.
My experience on this team was not positive. From my perspective, the environment was hostile. I was expected to maintain a positive demeanour at all times, while regularly being spoken to in ways that I experienced as demeaning and dismissive.
I experienced repeated situations where feedback crossed into public criticism. Team roundtables were structured in a way that encouraged calling out what a channel lead was doing “wrong”, often by individuals without the context or expertise to provide that level of critique. I found this approach undermining rather than constructive.
In my experience, accountability was lacking, with a pattern of blame shifting rather than ownership. Concerns and mistakes were frequently addressed in public Teams channels, including in front of leadership, which I experienced as public call-outs rather than support.
I also experienced coworkers undermining my work, along with ongoing pressure to comply with requests that did not align with my professional judgment or strategy. This created an environment where it was difficult to operate effectively in my role.
From my perspective, leadership was often reactive rather than proactive, and did not take adequate steps to address these dynamics. It was often difficult to prioritize tasks as everything came in as “urgent”. I also experienced what felt like favouritism, with support applied inconsistently across team members.
Compensation did not feel aligned with the expectations of, and level of work required for, the role.
Overall, I would not recommend working on this team. That said, the experience ultimately gave me clarity on the type of environment I want to be in and pushed me toward a role where employees are better supported.
This reflects my personal experience on this team.
