Pros
Devoted has some of the brightest, kindest, and hard-working people you will ever meet. I have never worked somewhere that has pushed me as hard as this place does, and I have never worked somewhere that has propelled my career development like Devoted has for me. The people I work with are truly amazing and I really do love working here. The company gifted everyone with a few mental health days in 2020, which was an amazing gesture in the middle of a difficult year. HR also sends gifts in the mail every quarter. When the office was open, we also had great food/drinks available. We finally have a new annual review system, and so far it seems a lot better than the old system.
Cons
While there are a lot of pros, there are a lot of cons. Devoted is still in a start-up phase, so many of these pains are not unique to Devoted, but instead to start-up life in general. First off, leadership. Every person in leadership is very passionate about goals and the company, but they have unrealistic expectations, and never celebrate when we reach goals. It's incredibly draining to see my work/life balance wither away, and I know many other people who feel the same. There often is a lack of communication from certain members of executive and mid-level leadership, and it can be painstakingly difficult to complete work without open communication from leadership. From no replies on Slack, to constant changes in project plans without communication, it can create problems in the workflow of those below leadership levels. Secondly, it is incredibly frustrating to see the focus shift further and further away from our mission and shift more towards profit and expansion. There are two brothers who started this company, and the two could not stand further apart on what they believe is best for the company. One brother believes in the mission and truly wants members to experience the best, while the other cares more about rapid growth and expansion with high returns, and is willing to achieve this, even if it means hiring talent that isn't as passionate about the mission and having customer satisfaction dip. There is a sharp dissonance between the two ideologies and the company has shifted towards the latter, making conversations that “matter”, incredibly difficult to have. Finally, it is shocking to me how little the company talks about public health issues that affect the lives of our members. When I first started last year, we had discussions on race, socioeconomic status, and the current American climate on a frequent basis, as these conversations mattered and affected our members as well. Now, we are simply focused on profit, and we have not had any type of discussion regarding diversity & inclusion in well over 7 months. It’s a conversation that very much needs to happen, as the majority of POC in the company are at the lowest level of the company, and many of the people above them talk down to them, which is painful to see. It’s challenging to see this place start to fall, as I so fiercely love this company and want it to succeed.
