Pros
- The student safety specialists I worked with displayed unwavering commitment to student safety, possessed a high level of education and experience, exhibited strong work ethic, and were remarkably congenial, all while facing numerous challenges imposed by management and higher-ups.
Cons
- I was genuinely surprised to find that the student safety managers lacked any significant knowledge of any kind related to content moderation. The managers frequently sought advice from team members regarding various incidents, and it was clear that they had a very limited understanding of the work that was taking place in the department. Being under the supervision of managers who lacked any kind of understanding of what I was encountering on a daily basis was exceptionally challenging. - The pay would have been laughable if I didn't know firsthand the struggles many of the people on the team were facing in paying their bills. Despite my extensive experience, the hourly pay I was offered was quite meager at best and would not suffice for even the very basic of needs. A number of the people I worked with were putting in long hours, often working seven days per week, in order to take advantage of weekend schedule incentives and ensure that they were able to pay their bills. This was the case despite the fact that so many of them were already fatigued, under incredible stress and burdened by excessive workloads and faulty technology. - Despite the daily exposure to distressing content, there were no mental health support options offered. When I brought this up to the people I was working with, I was told that they had been requesting mental health supports for an extended period, yet these requests had fallen on deaf ears and been delayed for almost two years. When I inquired about mental health support myself, management and Human Resources suggested that I make use of the company's sporadically offered virtual yoga sessions. This only served to highlight their disconnect from the department considering the continuous, 24/7 operational demands. Such an option was simply not feasible. - Most importantly, the technology that was allocated for responding to student alerts was scarcely operational. I frequently found myself navigating numerous obstacles just to simply perform my duties, as the queue system seemed to never work properly. It would be challenging to ascertain how many student incidents were missed during my tenure which only added additional stress to my ability to cope in this position. - In all of my years of experience in this industry, I have never seen a company treat a content moderation team in this manner. It was clear during my time at Lightspeed that the student safety team is showcased as a sales asset that is quite often neglected behind closed doors. It appeared that no one within the company truly grasped the challenges the employees in this department were facing on a daily basis.