You need to know it’s as good as its bad - Product Development Engineer Tom Sawyer Software Employee Review

Thank you for acknowledging some of the elements that make Tom Sawyer Software a great place to work. In addition to your points, our other reviews cite our good work-life balance, flexible work hours, and great products. We offer terrific growth opportunities for new staff, with many instances of young engineers who exhibit leadership skills being promoted to managerial or product leadership roles within their first year or two working at the company. Regarding your feedback and advice to management, employees are expected to provide feedback while they are employed with us so that we have an opportunity to respond. We perform regular check-ins with all employees and view this as a two-way dialog in which both sides have an obligation to contribute to ensure a productive and satisfying employment relationship. Training and managing a remote, global workforce is a challenge faced by any modern company. We recently instituted regular product engineering training sessions, and developed a thorough training program for new product engineers. This new program will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Where possible, we also assign a local manager or manager with overlapping work hours. We agree there is room for continued improvement in the training of all staff, including managers, and clearly communicating possible career paths with each person. We review market compensation data and trends each year and make adjustments to salaries and benefits on an annual basis. We also make individual adjustments off-cycle when appropriate, such as on an employee’s first year anniversary, for outstanding performance, or other special circumstances. In many instances, off-cycle increases are initiated by the CEO. In your situation, we approved a significant off-cycle increase to support your request to move closer to the office and have a reduced commute time, and you were a recipient of our generous referral program. Mexico City is a dynamic city much like New York City, and it has been difficult to understand salary and hiring trends. We have performed numerous studies in attempts to improve salaries and benefits, but it is also changing rapidly and is hard to understand quickly. We strive to be fair, so we responded to Mexico City staff feedback about compensation at the beginning of 2018 by increasing the monthly grocery voucher benefit, applying above-inflation raises, supporting employee relocation, and establishing a generous work from home policy. Further, in early 2019, we announced significant salary adjustments for the entire Mexico City staff that was very well-received by the staff. The CEO was supportive and, in many cases, has been the instigator of these improvements. Based on your feedback, we will re-evaluate our practices related to overtime. Regarding conditions and management of funds in the Mexico office, our Employee Ethics policy that was communicated in June 2018 clearly states all employees are required to immediately report any “unethical, dishonest, misleading, fraudulent, or illegal behavior.” We have an open culture where everyone can communicate. We will investigate your claim but feel employees have an equal personal responsibility to their employer and expect staff to raise concerns right away. Like all of our global offices, we have onsite, local administrative management. Given the departure of our previous administrative associate in Mexico several months back, we have been actively recruiting for this position but it takes time to conduct interviews and replace a person for such a role. Regarding your comments about the CEO, we have many employees and returning employees who have worked with us for more than a decade, and some for two decades. We view this as a strong testament to our supportive and challenging company culture in which all voices are heard and staff are challenged to excel. Tom Sawyer Software has been in business for 28 years, under the same leadership. Achieving this level of success would not be possible without strong leadership, dedication, and equally, with support from employees. We can’t expect all employees, especially young individuals who are new to the workforce, to understand all of the challenges related to running a successful, global business with its many demands, but we are always open to questions and feedback. Your feedback is important and helps us to continually improve and make Tom Sawyer Software a great place to work.