Pros
I was hesitant to write this review because I know that there’s been quite an uproar in the past about Glassdoor reviews; specifically, around figuring out who wrote them. But, I recently left Circa to pursue a new sales role, and after knowing what I know now, I feel like it is my duty to make sure others know what they are getting themselves into when working at this company. I had the opportunity to be part of Circa’s sales team and was sold a “dream” in the interview. Great “sales pitch,” guys! In my role there, I often felt like I was being handed more leads than others, which was intended, I guess, to be a good thing. Sure, I could make more money, but it felt like these opportunities were given to me behind other salespeople’s backs. It felt slimy. I will say that I am grateful that I made friendships that will last beyond my time at the company, with all levels of sales people. There wasn’t too much interaction with other departments unfortunately. Because of the relationships I built, I am going to try to do my best to ensure that examples I share are as discreet as possible regarding other people’s involvement. Overall, I consider myself to be someone who can read through the lines, but I soon realized that I had been “tricked” into believing that Circa was really as “great” as they say they are. From the lack of software updates, lack of career pathing, lack of communication between teams, lack of privacy, and surprisingly, a lack of personal diverse values by most employees and leaders. That is what bothered me the most. I expected to come into a company (who sold a diversity product!!) who had people that were passionate and knowledgeable about diversity, current events, history, etc. Boy was I wrong! I soon realized that I was doing more “teaching” to my colleagues who were far removed from anything “diverse” in their day to day lives, aside from a very small handful of employees. Everyone else was great at promoting diversity for “show.” I know that there were salespeople who actually left the company because of this. This is also a big reason why I made the change and looked for a company that fostered a good culture through a diverse work environment. (Spoiler: My new company doesn’t even SELL a diversity product!) It was like people didn’t care what the company sold, they just needed to make money so the company would get bought! This is going to be a long review, but I need to differentiate my review with specifics and not fluff…let’s talk about the lack of true diverse values. Let’s start with… Women. The company is proud they have a lot of women overall, but if they don’t fix their understanding of childcare they may not have as many in the future. Although I do not have children yet, I knew that was something I wanted in my future. In having conversations with my peers, I soon realized that Circa didn’t have a real structured maternity leave policy for their sales team. I heard “horror stories” about women in sales that came back to work with no ramp period, being evaluating against others who hadn’t been on leave, conversations about PIP soon after coming back, and changes in jobs and pay when they were out! It terrified me to think that I could have kids at this place in the future. If you are interested in working here and ever having children, I hope you examine their “maternity leave policy.” There are people who left the company because of how terrible it was! In just a few minutes of reviewing this policy, I was able to figure out that if you take short term disability, the policy actually financially benefits men over the mother bearing the child. I don’t think Circa consulted with any mothers when coming up with this policy! It’s a shame, especially with all the women who work there. I would have expected a company who praises that “diverse teams transform businesses” would find it more important to focus on things like maternity leave, bonding time, transitioning back to work, etc. Run for the hills if you ever want to have a child – this is NOT the place to do it! Individuals with Disabilities. Clearly, we all know disabilities are not always physical, but I am not sure if Circa does. I heard about employees recommending accommodations and having to fight to get what they need… like updated seating, technology, etc. You would hope that if they are requiring 100+ dials a day from their sales team, that they would try to provide the best accommodations for them to do so. Right? Gender identity. If I had to hear one of the sales leaders incorrectly address one of my colleagues again with the proper pronoun (after she was repeatedly corrected!!!), I was going to walk right out of our meetings!!! I was shocked by the lack of awareness and respect. But, the excuse of “I am still trying to learn” was the “go to” ALL the time. Spare me! What century are we living in? Minorities. If this wasn’t the perfect time for a company (who sold a diversity solution) to get behind a movement, I don’t know when there would be! The picture that Circa paints on their website of this “great, diverse place to work,” included pictures and videos that were mostly purchased stock images. Where is the honest representation of your staff? I mean, after all you would hope that a company who offers a diversity product would also draw diverse talent naturally, right? Circa is headquartered in Milwaukee. The city of Milwaukee has a population that is roughly 39% African American. So, why is it that the company hasn’t drawn in more minority talent? Could it be because candidates realized it would be difficult to work under leaders who don’t truly believe in the value of diversity? Maybe they picked up on this because.. They researched the company and saw one of the leaders LinkedIn posts (in a direct response to what happened on 5/25/2020)… and noticed that her post ended with the hashtags: all lives matter and blue lives matter. No excuses for that. Or maybe its because they heard that one of the board members continuously posts racists images, statements, and articles on multiple social media platforms? Or maybe they heard about the multiple awkward discussions about racism that the company has had. You know, the one where another leader in the organization made some racist comments about an incredible black woman in US politics. And, then his comment was brushed under the rug… with zero follow-up! It was no surprise that the company was called out on social media for their lack of diversity representation in leadership. But, again, leaders brushed this under the rug in hopes no one saw it. We all did. I even had people reaching out to me about it who didn’t work at the company! The individual who posted something noticed that Circa had zero African American representation in leadership and one Asian American. They talked about how Circa posted a bar graph on their website to show that the “Greater MKE Race/Ethnicity - Minority %” is at 23.86%, and how close Circa was at achieving those numbers within their own company! If you remember, the CITY of Milwaukee is closer to 39% for African Americans alone! But Circa would never want to share those numbers. Could you imagine what that bar graph would look like if it was broken down by specific race? Someone on the post asked Circa to do that, but they didn’t. Wonder why… Let’s switch gears… So, a few years ago Circa was purchased by an equity company. It sounds like senior employees that I talked with had their lives turned upside down when this happened. AKA – Lost half their salaries and were also demoted. I would have NEVER stayed. Things could change at the drop of a hat at Circa! Lets talk about turnover. You would expect turnover would happen in sales, but WOW. When I started at this company, they had way more depth to the sales team. In the past year, they lost over 7 senior people!!! The ones who are left are also one foot out the door, but trying to fake it until they can find something else. I think some people are also hopeful they will make money when the company sells, since it is expected that will happen in 2022. The pandemic was a weird time for everyone. I had to get used to working at a new company during this time, but it was also eye opening for me. For a company who acts like they “care” it was incredible how lax they were about the mask policy. And, then they let everyone work from home, but gradually started wanting us back in the office. But, remember, they promote being winners of the “best place to work remotely” award. Speaking of health and safety, I can’t tell you how many times I witnessed some of the sales leadership not wearing masks in meetings when they said it was a requirement. Pay was fine. Base salary is pretty low and it seems like there’s a disconnect based on what people had been getting for base versus what they offering new people when they’re hired. We all talk. The company still operates like an old sales company with their sales books and DIAL DIAL DIAL mentality. They have no idea how to use salesforce effectively, and their territory breakdown is a mess! It doesn’t help that they are constantly having to move things around since people keep leaving. We had recently lost a few people in leadership. Wasn’t a huge surprise. We had a sales leader who actually introduced himself by showing us a video that an immature child would think was funny. He lacked sales skills, knew nothing about diversity, but people liked him because he let us do whatever we wanted to do during the day. We had team leads who provided zero support, I was pretty confused by the point of their role. The leads were nice people, but their diversity knowledge and passion didn’t go much further than the OFCCP and AA laws as well. It was so robotic, definitely hard to get excited by their lead. I think I got to a point where I realized that I had lived out my course at Circa, and morally had a tough time knowing that this company provided a fake image to the outside world… to profit. I am now working for a larger company, so I know that they have an opportunity to provide more perks, benefits, etc., but diversity is a real thing here.
Cons
If I had to offer some suggestions… Collaborate more. And, not just with leadership. Ask your staff how they are feeling, and let them contribute! And collaboration with multiple teams. Sales lives on an island. Make sure that every employee, and most importantly, the leaders of the company become aware of their own biases and how they affect their own day-to-day decisions (such as hiring, or how they communicate with people). Maybe read, and pass out “White Fragility: Why is it so hard for white people to talk about racism” instead of more sales books. I once had a mgr there tell me that “diversity is important, but there are more important things that we have to focus on.” I didn’t need that person to tell me that, I already knew that. But, to hear it… that was odd. Being separated by interest and divided by purpose with your staff creates a terrible culture and halts progression. Leads. Figure them out please. I can’t believe how disorganized lead distribution is. Worst I’ve ever seen. The team’s managers are relying on their team to sell so they can receive their bonus, which makes it obvious with the way that these leads are distributed and “fought” for. There’s no consistency in distribution. This creates terrible morale with your sales staff. Before the company sends/posts anything publicly, please make sure that is proofread… maybe even by a few people? After the embarrassment of releasing an article using the word black as a last name instead of blake… you really should consider proofreading more! Volunteering and giving back to the community. While I had appreciated some efforts to do this, it was few and far between. With all the money poured into acquiring companies, paying higher salaries, etc., why isn’t it a focus to truly VOLUNTEER in the community that the company is headquartered in? And, auctioning off your private plane, money and boat rides when you’re “giving back” seems a bit counter intuitive. Stop using the word “ally” until you really know what it means. Do you call out racism any chance you get, even when if it makes you uncomfortable? This is what is critical to ensuring progression. Your employees are looking to their leaders to make a stance when there is something wrong happening in the workplace! Be honest with your staff about potential plans regarding the sale of your company, and maybe offer investment options to more of your staff to benefit from that sale, not just leaders. Make your website, social media images, etc. your REAL company photos. Remove the people who don’t work there anymore. It is fake! You say you are “committed and honest to your customers,” well then be HONEST. Do some research on what companies are offering for maternity leave policies. Oh, and maybe talk to the staff that had kids at your company already, knowledge is power. Health Insurance premiums are AWFUL. Research what else is offered out there. Stop threatening PIP whenever you can. Fear does nothing but make people run!!! The goals that are created for OFCCP are insane. No one hit their sales goal on the OFCCP team in 2021. That is a problem. The company lost a lot of people, and there was no way to make up those losses in our sales. So, everyone else felt the pressure. If you have leaders who are active on social media, consider reviewing before they publicly post anything. I get that it is “freedom of speech,” but this is a terrible look for the brand and the “diverse teams transform business” motto. As far as the sales department goes, there is zero opportunity for growth in your career. We always hear about other departments having promotions. But in sales, you must apply for a job if you want it, there are rarely promotions. Seriously, my time at the company, I saw close to 8 senior salespeople leave. That was A LOT of knowledge that just walked out the door. I don’t blame them though. They have already done this job for a decade with no change, and actually way less pay it sounds like. The senior sales people that still work there are just skimming through so they can sit and grab that paycheck while they can. Recognize your staff for their achievements… big or small! I thought it was odd that a company didn’t acknowledge anniversaries. However, I think that there’s about 5 people who have been at the company for 10 years or longer (company is over 20 years old!). Overall, EVERYTHING about the company wasn’t terrible. I wouldn’t have stayed at the company if it was. But, my peers helped get me through the day… big time. As I said, I still communicate with people that I had worked with, so that was a plus. I think the head of the company needs to get more involved with whats going on with the sales team and leaders. I know this isn’t the norm, but it should be pretty eye opening that the company lost so many great sales people with YEARS of experience, in such a short time. People would be much more likely to be honest and comfortable when talking to him than their sales leaders. I know that there were senior people who left that were treated like garbage. I’m thinking… hey, leaders, you could have probably learned something from them. Maybe you should have had an open, honest conversation and pushed through your ego. Diversity and inclusion does NOT end with the Human Resources team, or with how you decide to market your diversity solution. Every employee has a role to play. Make sure you have the right people to make the right impact.
