Pros
The (vast majority of) people!
Cons
Each employee at ClickUp is going to have their own perspective of what it’s like to be here. I applaud those who aren’t having a miserable experience. Hang onto that feeling, y’all! No one deserves to feel disrespected, overworked, unheard or micromanaged. Sadly, there are many who have felt this way the entirety of our time at ClickUp. I’m posting this as both a therapeutic exercise and to caution any of you job seekers looking for a shiny pre-IPO tech startup. Please, please, please do your research before applying. If you want to just clock in/clock out, are able to hit your metrics, and are able to disassociate from the interoffice politics, you really would be fine! But poor executive leadership is the root of all issues, and that’s what I’m specifically wanting to shed light on. The majority of executive leadership are inexperienced and exhibit poor judgement, nepotism, and narrow thinking. They’re able to masterfully balance this external brand of positivity and productivity while engaging in bullying and triangulation tactics. There’s this unspoken culture of “telling” on colleagues in order to show strong alliance to the company. It’s sickening, unprofessional, and harmful. Especially the CRO, which, for some reason, has a confusing reach across many organizations in the company and is an unpleasant person to interact with. I was personally relieved when the office was closed recently for covid precautions just so I wouldn’t have to bump into any of them. (It feels gross to call people out like this, because they are in fact people with feelings, but since they’re incapable of accepting feedback or ideas that differ from their own, here we are. Maybe one day they’ll all have personal awakenings after listening to an executive coach? Or after enough of these reviews? Sigh.) But wait, there’s more! It’s evident that no one in executive leadership are parents, or it’s that they simply prioritize ClickUp’s success over family and wellness. I recall from onboarding one exec making an example that “sometimes your kid might have a birthday party” but “if an urgent deadline needs to be met, you need to decide what’s actually the best thing to do” INSINUATING THAT YOU SHOULD STEP AWAY FROM YOUR CHILD’S BIRTHDAY PARTY?? (I actually side-messaged someone on the call asking if I heard that correctly. Aaaaaand yep.) Recently the phrase “healthy paranoia” was even used as a talking point for the mindset employees should all have working here so that we all “stay ahead” of competition. How could a CEO stand in front of us and champion the concept of “healthy paranoia” when so many people during this pandemic are finding it challenging to even get out of bed in time for the meeting?? When so many people are actually struggling with legitimate mental illness? Don’t get me started on how ClickUp apparently takes attendance (and tracks who's late to join the call?!?!?!?!?) for a weekly company-wide meeting. Excuse me? This is a company of almost what, 800 people? …how is this appropriate? I just.....cannot. What’s this, MORE disturbing insights?! Executive leadership does not value the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion. (And forget ANY concepts like accessibility or belonging. Aaaaaand I’d bet that if any of them were asked to define ableism, subconscious bias, or empathy… they wouldn’t know where to begin.) (Oh and it’s ok if you, dear reader, couldn’t define them on the spot…go read up on them! But you’re likely not making executive decisions for a global company of humans that are working on a product that is intended for an entire global customer base.) Leadership won’t make an open statement that they don’t support, for example, the default option of having pronouns in email signatures. They see things like this as “distracting from the needs of our customers” apparently. (???!?!) Celebrating women is “tOo PoLiTicAL.” Many don’t feel safe posting about ideas or concepts related to the LGBTQ community for fear of trying to “push their personal agenda.” For what feels like MONTHS now, there hasn’t been a Chief People Officer helping guide changes and policies that impact PEOPLE. As a quick aside, it takes forever to get new tooling approved and integrated. It's not clear who makes the decisions on what tools we use to try and meet ridiculous expectations and metrics. Alas, this is a culture of micromanagement, egos, and fear. I’m not proud to be associated and I’ve cautioned people I know from applying when I’ve been asked what it’s like to work here. In the event ClickUp finds a way to continue their storytelling to investors and goes public, I’ll be over the moon for the dozens of awesome people that work here! But I don’t think anyone should negate their quality of life in helping a company succeed when that company has no regard for the success of its people and their families. And yes, although I desperately want to hit my 1-year mark, it’s evident this isn’t a healthy place for me and I’m actively job seeking. I’ll be ok. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to give 100% no matter how soul-sucking. Ok, I feel better.
