Toxic culture and poor work-life balance - Anonymous employee Cookson Adventures Employee Review

No day is ever boring, even for those working outside of the trip planning and hosting roles. Vibrant office with a move to a larger premises to come this year. Great variety of talent and personalities at the company which makes it a pleasure to go in to the office and meet everyone three days a week. Exciting times at Cookson.

If you’re a little on the lazy side and want a quiet life - don’t apply!

Tips and bonuses can be good. Basic salary is low in comparison, so these extras end up doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Micromanagement is a core issue. Routine tasks often require approval at an unnecessary level of detail, and decisions can be overturned with little explanation, making it difficult to work with any independence. Mistakes are criticised heavily, even when those pointing them out regularly make similar or worse errors themselves. The standard applied to junior staff is very different to the one applied to senior staff. Basic quality control is inconsistent. WAB messages sent directly to clients often go out with spelling errors and inaccuracies, yet these issues are rarely acknowledged or addressed. At the same time, far smaller issues in internal work can be met with disproportionate criticism. There is also a noticeable reliance on ChatGPT for day-to-day work, which can lead to further inconsistencies in tone, quality, and accuracy. Workloads and expectations vary dramatically between employees. Some - often senior or long serving staff - regularly arrive late, leave early, or seem to have almost complete freedom, while others are pushed to the point of burnout. It creates a strong sense of unfairness across the business. Several colleagues expressed feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, with stories of cancelled leave, ignored concerns, and even people needing medical treatment due to work-related stress. When anyone raises burnout, it tends to be brushed off rather than addressed. The culture isn’t particularly welcoming for women. The environment feels male-dominated, with a noticeable preference for certain backgrounds and appearances. It can come across as elitist, cliquey, and outdated, more like an old-fashioned private-school hierarchy than a modern workplace. There’s a clear inconsistency in management styles across the company. Some managers are extremely controlling while others are noticeably hands-off, creating unequal standards depending on which department you’re in. This imbalance is also reflected in the monthly “above and beyond” prize, which almost always goes to a project manager simply for going on a trip, even though that is a standard part of the role. There is a strong sense of hierarchy and power dynamics that goes beyond normal organisational structure. Certain individuals behave as if the company is their personal domain, prioritising their own status and sense of importance over collaboration or collective goals. This contributes to a divisive atmosphere where people operate on different levels and standards. Cross-department collaboration is surprisingly difficult. Teams don’t feel aligned, and there’s very little consistent messaging from leadership, leading to frequent misunderstandings and friction. It can feel like a battle to get straightforward tasks completed because different departments operate by different rules. Some people are allowed to do whatever they like simply because they’re more senior, while those lower down are held to much stricter standards. The lack of a unified approach results in constant small disagreements over otherwise simple matters. Flexibility is advertised but rarely felt. Even minor adjustments to lunch breaks or start times need to be announced in some departments, which feels more like seeking permission than exercising flexibility. Others are allowed to "WFH" whilst travelling - at airports, on planes etc. - when in reality they are not able to work much at all. Sick leave doesn’t always feel supported. Taking time off due to illness can lead to frustration or criticism rather than understanding for junior staff. There are recurring concerns around invoice transparency, with occasional charges that were difficult to clearly reconcile with the services provided.