- There is no sense of work-life balance here. Many employees are in the office past dinner time, some are working past midnight (and then returning to the office early the following morning), and quite a few are coming in on the weekends...with their children! Mostly everyone is miserable and drained, yet the managers are either too aloof to see it or don't care (the latter is a safe bet)
- Upper management is awful, both individually and collectively. While they are all brilliant people in their own right, they are incapable of leading their teams. There is no sense of mentorship, as you will be enslaved by incompetence. Managers are focused on completing tasks and projects, regardless of what the cost is, and have zero desire to take you under their wing and help you grow. Even though you may be an expert in your field, you're going to be doing what they think is right, even if it isn't
- Company hires technologists, but not enough people who actually understand the complexities of the health insurance industry. There's a reason why business objectives and strategies are stagnant or just not working
- Company went through two rounds of lay-offs within a three-month period earlier in 2015, and yet the CEO peddles around the notion that "it's business as usual" and that "the company is at its most profitable." (Not a ringing endorsement from a CEO who openly berates his exec team in front of everyone and relieves himself in the bathroom shoe-less...)
- No sense of forecasting and proper planning, from all aspects of the business. Perfect example: Company outgrew an old office in Palo Alto, moved to a brand new location in Mountain View, and filled it to the brim, resulting in the removal of communal areas to squeeze in more desks. Also, many of the managers tend to have a "We'll worry about it when we get there..." approach to overseeing projects
- Company went over eight years without an actual HR department, made a few hires, only to see them all disappear. There's no one onsite who can be trusted to handle HR-related issues
- How does this company expect to generate revenue outside of partnerships? The business development folks consist of a small group who are stretched thin and have already left, or have a foot out the door. There is no marketing team, and all of PR is managed by one person. Whatever semblance of marketing the company had (a CONTENT marketing team) was gotten rid of during the first round of lay-offs and was never taken seriously to begin with.
- Company culture? You won't find that here. First off, the CEO and exec team have been talking about building core company values that they've supposedly been meeting about, but have yet to share externally (this was first discussed at the old office in 2014...). Second, there is no sense of team bonding. The company has arbitrary, monthly birthday celebrations for employees, but when they plan actual team-building activities, no one attends because work is piled on and events feel "forced"
- No actual on-boarding process. If you're not familiar with the health insurance industry, then you're in for a huge learning curve and will probably struggle throughout most of your tenure. That's what you get when you don't invest in HR...
- Not sure if there's even a diluted way of stating this, but the men in the office need potty training, especially the ones brought overseas to work at headquarters. I've seen better bathroom cleanliness at my former elementary school (and those young children are just learning how to use urinals!). I'll spare the details, but the men's bathroom is so disgusting, that some employees walk two blocks over to Taco Bell to relieve themselves
