You may notice that there is a recent batch of highly positive reviews from current employees. That is really emblematic of what Blackbaud is. You see, the company recently strongly encouraged current employees to write favorable reviews on Glassdoor to boost the ratings. You know, to enhance the company's image. There is a lot of window dressing at Blackbaud and the recent activity here is a PERFECT example.
The company tends to treat its customers as adversaries, not partners. "The contract is the contract," is often said, without consideration for how Blackbaud may have wronged the customer. The company NEVER takes responsibility for when it is wrong.
The internal culture is one that lacks any accountability. No one feels empowered to accomplish anything or make decisions, so, things are rarely accomplished. Even very basic tasks move at a glacial pace. Timelines drift. Execution is poor to non-existent. Nobody seems to care. There are essentially 25 people that get things done in the company.
In the Pros section, I mentioned employee-friendly policies, which is very true. However, these policies when paired with a culture of no accountability leads to an employee base stuffed with complacent, 15-20 year employees that never leave and never accomplish anything. Oh, and they love to celebrate "boomerang" employees that leave and return. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING. These folks left, were asked to produce in their new roles and were like "nah bro, I'm going back to the 'baud." This cycle also leads to practically no new ideas from the outside. If the idea didn't come from Daniel Island, it's not valid. If you’re a high-performer with career growth ambitions, this morass of sloth around the org will be highly frustrating and serve as a roadblock to your development.
Should we talk about the products? One of the main products is essentially sold with a bait-and-switch demo. I hope you like the "database view" that you never see in the demo. The "web view" is mostly fairy tale. Another product is built on ancient web technology that is not supported by any modern browser. Awesome stuff, really. There's no appetite to really invest in products. The company spends an embarrassingly low portion of its revenue on R&D for a supposed cutting-edge SaaS company.
Senior leadership essentially prints money for themselves via gaudy stock awards. A couple years ago, several leaders were cashing huge stock checks, but there were no raises for middle managers. Way to lead by example. Oh, and there are annual layoffs, because nobody in leadership is capable of reacting to poor sales performance in a timely manner. The same pattern emerges every year. It's disgraceful.
Office politics are out of control. Everyone has their fiefdoms and woe unto you should you step on anyone's toes, especially if you're trying to help a customer. Silos are EVERYWHERE.
Look, some people love it here, but don't let the shiny exterior fool you. This place will crush your soul if you aren't willing to sell it.
