6y
As a Partner at PDG it’s tough to read this review and I am terribly sorry that anyone would leave the company feeling this discontented. That’s certainly not the culture of the company we’re trying to build and we want to learn from this review to improve the experience for all of our current and future employees.
We definitely set very high expectations for our employees in order to deliver complex solutions for our clients against sometimes ambitious timelines. The work we do at PDG is rigorous and challenging. We always try to go above and beyond for our clients, and while this can occasionally lead to long days for our employees, this is the exception and not the norm. We hold ourselves to extremely high standards and are always straightforward and honest with our employees and our clients, which we believe is reflected by the long tenure we’ve maintained with all of our clients and many of our staff. We have employee reviews twice a year and an open-door policy for two-way feedback, but know that we can and need to improve in this area, especially at times when new projects consume so much of our leadership focus. This review is a helpful reminder to make this a continued area of improvement.
We try to ensure that all of our employees are well-trained and well-resourced on their projects so that they can deliver on these high expectations, and it upsets me to hear that this employee felt that they didn’t have the resources they needed to do their job successfully. We are committed to giving our employees access to senior staff for technical guidance and direction, to online training tools, software, and tuition reimbursement for any technical training related to their work. If there’s something more our engineers need to execute their projects successfully, we want to hear it and we’re committed to making it happen.
It’s true that one of the tools we use to retain top talent is promotions and bonuses. We find this to be a necessity as a smaller software development firm competing in today’s marketplace where engineers are regularly courted. We find that most of our employees see this as a strength to working at PDG, not as a detraction.
We believe in supporting our employees and their well-being. We offer unlimited vacation. We try to schedule regular social events to ensure that employees on different teams can get to know one another and have fun as a company. We have a robust holiday schedule of paid days off. We’re proud of our healthcare and other benefits. We provide free snacks every day (both at the office and even for teams working at client sites), as well as free lunch for anyone working in the office on Fridays.
This reviewer mentioned my vegan lifestyle as criticism of PDG, which I feel is important to address. I do hope that everyone who works at PDG thinks about the impact of their actions on the environment and on animal welfare, and takes steps both at work and at home to make more sustainable choices. It’s for this reason that company-funded snacks and meals are indeed plant-based. Employees can bring whatever they want to eat to the office, but if the company is funding meals, we are going to try to make it as humane and environmentally responsible as possible. I hope that anyone working at PDG today or who is considering joining us finds that this philosophy aligns with their own personal values.
