Cohere

The dog is the friendliest person in the office.

At first, this job seemed great. Our manager was supportive, and we genuinely felt valued. Unfortunately, about a year in, something changed — possibly due to funding issues — and the whole atmosphere shifted.

We started being timed on our work, with every minute tracked and any discrepancies questioned. We had to invoice using different codes for countless tiny projects, which meant more time spent tracking tasks than actually doing meaningful work. We were even told we couldn’t charge for toilet breaks.

The creative and interesting work we were hired to do gradually turned into repetitive, monotonous tasks that were impossible to focus on. There was no proper training, and new projects were thrown at us without explanation or guidance.

We were assured there would be plenty of work, but by mid-2025, it started drying up. Only then did we discover that we were actually on zero-hours contracts — something that had been disguised in all earlier communications. Management handled the situation poorly, dragging things out for months instead of being honest with us.

It all ended with an awkward video call from someone none of us had ever met, telling us our “human evaluation” work was no longer needed. No thanks, no acknowledgment, no empathy — just a cold dismissal. I worked there for two and a half years.

I’ve never been treated so poorly in my entire career. If you value your mental health or professional integrity, stay far away from this company. No one seems to know what they’re doing, and they certainly don’t value their staff.

Hire some actual human beings.

Also, free lunch doesn't make up for treating your employees like dirt.