Odoo Reviews

1) Lack of company strategies for different markets: annually, there are two company business sharing sessions by top management ; each time is very similar without new approaches and regional strategies, basically applying 100% of Belgium's approach without localization in APAC markets. If you ask the head of a department or team leaders about a new year's mission and company vision, they are not able to tell you . The only strategy is to ask you what deals you can close this week, this month , and this quarter. If a staff member can't hit the target for 1-2 quarters , some department heads may just warn them in front of the whole team. Hiring more headcount is another strategy they make but they do not make a decision based on business needs and strategic planning, but management's personal interest or "common sense". This company is IT/SaaS related but they don't make decision based on data science. 2) Immature and inexperienced leadership of top and middle management: most of them are internally promoted , and one major reason they became the management team is that they joined this company before it was expanded during covid. The major strategy that top management employs when a department doesn't have good sales performance is to sit near the team and apply pressure or arrange a face-to-face session to talk about their performance . Again, there's no solid strategic planning because management doesn't know the market , so they are unable to react fast during sales recessions . 3) Lack of staff career promotion path: Favoritism plays a significant role when considering staff promotions by department heads , rather than sales and work performance, leadership skills, potential, or teammates' feedback. There is no talent management team in the HR department , and the decision to promote a staff member is based solely on the department head's or Director's decision. To get promoted, it is very time consuming, you need to face-to-face tell your department manager repeatedly more than 4-5 times about your career goals, not to mention the setup of KPIs , frequent meetings to evaluate them, and his/her hidden agenda of favoritism. The easiest way to get a fast-track promotion to be a team leader is to closely report everything to your department manager, including your teammates' daily activities and to be highly obedient and take orders from management. This is a norm to build trust between managers and teammates who want a promotion. 4) Unprofessional workplace and top management's attitude: each year , each salesperson is required to sign the commission acknowledgment, but it is not well planned before the start of the year. Mostly, their planning starts between the end of Q4 and Q1 of the new year, so the new contract can only be sent in mid-Q1, super non sense, asking you to sign without your team leader or department head 's update. They say it is Odoo culture that staff are expected to discover issues themselves. When controversial issues happen, some department heads may threaten and insult bottom staff through character assassination (e.g., if you don't 100% follow what the top management says , you are just taking advantage of the company, and they will ensure other people on your team know about your behavior, even though you are just trying to follow the standard company policies and rules). Some top management makes judgments based on their "common sense" rather than contractual or black-and-white policies. Sometimes they treat high-performing and self-motivated salespeople as evils instead of offering top-down encouragement. Top management only handles internal tasks and does not represent the company for goodwill, brand name promotion, or key account partnerships. 5) Serious internal disputes between different sales teams and between sales and back office teams: Top management knows about the internal issues and disputes of sales but does not resolve them proactively. Instead, they try to set up new rules every year as a handbook solution. Department managers do not care about most salespersons but only about sales results . There are no clear roles and responsibilities for some teams, so they try to avoid their work responsibilities, which makes the internal teams' relationships more negative. 6) Serious micro-management of some sub-teams' team leaders : who your team leader/manager is totally affects your team culture. As most of them are very young without solid leadership skills, the powerful strategy they employ is to micromanage their teammates . You need to ensure your schedule is full every day, even though you require some time to work on customer issues and to respond promptly to their messages. Most of the middle and top management run this company like a school. One of the reasons is because some young and micro-managing management promoted a young staff because s/he provides under-the-table personal value, vicious cycle never disappears. 7) High turnover rate and inability to retain staff: very high turnover rate, u may see a group of people leaving in the same month. Once you submit your resignation letter, you will be treated differently. Some leaders may even "PUA" you, no longer trust you, and keep track of you as if you are doing something wrong about resigning or worried you will steal company info. If you are not liked by the management, there is no exit interview arranged to understand the reasons behind. Some resigned staff are treated as evils by management who judged things based on their own "common sense" but not civilized common values or contracts. Briefly conclude, there is immature "system" or "mechanism" in this company so the work foundation is weak and the claimed value of respect is not truly reflected. Departments fight against with each other. This company in general is a "united company" consisting of different small companies (i.e. departments) but they are not mutually cooperating. If you are a mature professional who plans to progress your career in this company, you will suffer more than benefit. You are not able to experience work improvement. ; if you are young, very obedient, do not value respect, accept full tolerance of violating a civilized value of common law, enjoy being deprived of, like to continue your school life in a workplace, this company is definitely a good place for you.