Pros
- The company is packed to the brim with insanely talented people. Doesn't matter if we're looking at senior or entry level, or heck, even the interns are astounding. Creative difference is the source of most conflict, not individual output. It's a great problem to have. The People & Culture department and the hiring managers from every department collaborate well to accomplish this. - Spreetail tends to favor versatility and resilience. Take the Customer Experience department for example: this isn't your average "call center". Several of them are capable of part time analytics even as they're enduring preposterous customer contact volume. Don't even think about applying if you don't have solid mental fortitude. - There is meaningful camaraderie between coworkers. The tough work environment brings people together, but it's also a joy to work along side so many others with the same work ethic and motivation. - The company operates bananas-lean and is currently undergoing hypergrowth. Naturally, there is no shortage of opportunities. Another way of looking at this: there aren't enough people to address the numerous problems that need to be solved yesterday. - Genuine focus on individual development. Spreetail runs a few programs to help people develop themselves and has a dedicated team for employee success. The success of these efforts are varied because the individual's buy-in is what ultimately makes or breaks the experience. - I feel comfortable giving feedback directly to the executive team and it's something I've done multiple times before. I recognize this is more unique to those who started earlier with the company - it was a very close group while we were ~200 large. Everyone should know that the executive team is very willing to listen.
Cons
- Communication problems feel larger than they should be given our size. Departments have struggled to establish priorities and long-term vision, which is somewhat expected of a company growing this fast in an already dynamic industry. There's a lot of pivoting that often feels like flailing. This makes it hard for departments to set realistic expectations for each other, which then can lead to animosity, undue stress, etc. - Health checks haven't kept up with the company's growth. We used to be pretty good at checking up on people's sentiments, but this seemed to have disappeared in 2018. I'd love to see a renewed push on this. Several teams are bursting at the seams and need this desperately. - I feel that we more often recognize and promote behaviors that favor short-term gains than strategic sustainability. For example, publicly congratulating someone for sinking a large number of extra hours fixing an issue tends to be fairly common. I'd rather we reward behaviors that would have prevented the issue in the first place. It's going to be tough to do. Heroic efforts are more obvious than feats of careful planning and caution that keep emergencies at bay. - The executive team has struggled with clear and consistent communication of company culture. Speeches at company events tend to be the most ambiguous. We've also received contradicting information about: - do we have official company hours? - is our SARs benefit something we should compare to a 401k? - do we value hours or results?
