Is My Workplace High-Control?

1. 1.How are working hours treated?
   Standard hours; overtime is exceptional and compensated.Often long, but with respect for life outside work.Long hours are the cultural norm; short hours read as low commitment.Sleep, weekends, and family time are openly framed as not-yet-committed-enough.
2. 2.How does leadership talk about people who leave?
   Departures are normal; ex-employees stay friendly with the company.Some friction at exit, but no organised hostility.Leavers are openly disparaged or framed as failures.Leaving is treated as betrayal; ex-colleagues are cut from the network.
3. 3.How is the company's 'mission' framed?
   We have goals and customers — it's a job.The mission is meaningful and discussed earnestly.The mission is presented as world-historically important.Doubt about the mission is treated as a moral failing or evidence of unfit-for-the-team.
4. 4.What happens to employees who raise concerns about company practices?
   Concerns are heard through normal channels and acted on.Concerns can be raised but require careful framing.Raising concerns is socially costly and informally punished.Internal whistleblowers are isolated, retaliated against, or pushed out.
5. 5.How are non-work relationships treated?
   Personal life is respected and protected.Personal life is fine but secondary to work.Outside relationships visibly attenuate as people stay longer at the company.Senior staff frequently say 'family' and 'friends' are obstacles to peak performance.
6. 6.How do you feel after a typical week of work?
   Tired but able to recover during the weekend.Drained but still myself.Hollowed out; I struggle to be present in non-work contexts.I no longer remember who I am outside this job.
7. 7.How is the founder / CEO talked about internally?
   They're a competent leader; people disagree with them sometimes.Highly respected; criticism happens but carefully.Treated as a visionary whose judgement is rarely questioned.Cult-of-personality intensity; criticism is framed as not understanding the magic.
8. 8.How transparent is information inside the company?
   Strategy, finances, and roadmap are openly shared.Most information is shared; some is need-to-know.Information is heavily compartmentalised; rumour fills the gaps.Members of different tiers receive substantively different information about the same events.
9. 9.What's the financial structure for employees?
   Cash compensation that approximates market rate.Equity-heavy but transparent and reasonable.Below-market cash with promises of future equity that obscure the trade.Below-market cash + locked equity + unpaid 'sacrifice phases' framed as proof of commitment.
10. 10.When you read about 'corporate cults' in journalism, do you recognise your workplace?
    Not at all.A few similarities, but mostly different.An uncomfortable amount.Yes — and I haven't said it out loud before.

Answer all 10 questions to see your result.