Pros
Based out of Miami Full-time, remote ux work without any pressure to relocate
Cons
- REEF is a jumbled start-up that aspires to impersonate a Fortune 200 company. Beware. - I received an offer letter for $110,000 a year, but after I signed all the documents in Docusign I was emailed a final offer letter stating my salary was "adjusted due to COVID" and my actual pay was $103,000. They were not transparent about this at all. Isn't that illegal? It should be. - Healthcare kicks in after 90 days. This is evil genius since most new employees dump this company within the first 90 days. - I interviewed with one manager who was amazing, and then got stuck with another manager who was a total bull in a china shop. Zero emotional intelligence. Zero ability to clearly delegate tasks because she's a stressed out mess and a control freak. She's also mediocre (at best) in her knowledge and application of ux research methods. I felt like I regressed to 2012 working with her. - Lack of work-life balance. Most managers are beyond stressed and work 10+ hours a day and over most weekends. They will never say it out loud and it's never discussed in job interviews, but they will expect the same level of dedication from their direct reports. If you sign off at 5pm or want to try and stick with a 40-45 hour work week, you will not be taken seriously. - Toxic work culture. The manager talks about people behind their back, bullies and intimidates employees to get her way, took away titles the previous manager gave employees, brought in a bunch of people from her previous company (which she was let go of) and demonstrated blatant favoritism with them. On my third day, I picked up the vibe that this "manager" wanted to push everyone on the team who pre-dated her out of the company (myself included), so she can bring in the people she knew and trusted. All the people she hired put up with her terrible management skills and that's why she wanted to work with them. This was the worst experience I've ever had with a manger and I quit a few months in. REEF will never be on my resume. - HR is aware of complaints and props up the company values via power point presentations and lunch n' learns, instead of doing their jobs and investigating workplace issues. No one has your back. - REEF is very top heavy with mostly male leaders who struggle to communicate the goals and direction of the company. Employees are in a constant state of whiplash over simple things like the name of the company (REEF/REEF Technology - who knows), which logo to use and which industries the company is in on a day to day basis. To summarize, it's a total circus. **To any UX research professional applying to REEF - This will definitely be a bumpy ride with little to no rewards, because your manager only cares about her reputation and is a total glory hog. If you are an order taker then you'll be fine. If you have experience then your professional opinions will trigger the manager's ego and you'll see her bad side quickly. It was obvious to me this was a dead end job by the end of my second week. Best of luck, but if you've read this far - I know you can find a better opportunity.
