Spreetail reviews

Note: I left in 2018, so if you are reading this later note that some of this could have changed. The company moves quickly and things change constantly, so if you have any question of the tougher reviews you read, I would strongly encourage having a discussion with a current employee before taking the job. Additionally, my view is framed from a particular department. Some departments around the company work differently and have different microcosms of culture, so make sure you chat with someone in the department you would be working in. The overall guidance from senior leadership has the illusion of being 'open and honest'; however, this really isn't the case. The flat organizational structure hides a very strange control hierarchy in which other divisions have a serious impact on your own personal development and team objectives. The direction of the company is to simply make more money and figure out the value proposition along the way. Because of the overall lack of direction, objectives quickly change to a higher money making opportunity and make it harder to pursue a single objective. Work life balance is non-existent. If you are not a single and childless human, I would recommend finding another place of employment. The management claims that the value delivered is most important, but you will only find people spending 50+ hours in the office (remote work highly discouraged) getting 'shout-outs' and 'employee of the month' awards. Remote unfriendly and tough hours has driven away a good chunk of the top talent which the business would simply say 'Spreetail isn't for everyone' - a message that says they have no desire to improve working conditions. Salary compensation is average, most of the business is somewhat underpaid while software folks will make at average or slightly better for the midwest. Unfortunately, salary is about your only benefit. Healthcare (dental and vision as well) is okay, average for the area but other companies offer things like HSA contribution which helps offset remaining costs, Spreetail does not. They have a stock compensation package called SARs which has a very questionable value for your future as opposed to a 401k that would be valuable to future employment. There are no other core benefits (such as legal assistance, mental health support, etc). While this is a great place to start your career I would not recommend it for continuing one. Current leadership is comprised of a lack of real experience in the fields they direct and it seemed that whenever we brought in someone with a high level of knowledge, they were gone within 6 months (or less!). In one particular instance there was a company announcement following the departure (about a 5 month tenure) of the Director of Operations with 20+ years experience in which the CEO practically laughed how they didn't work well together. If you come in wanting to change something drastically that you weren't asked to, expect to be shown the door. For growth, you will probably have someone trying to train you that doesn't have much field experience with what they are trying to train you to do. If you are looking for a strong mentor to grow your career, you will be fairly limited in your search. The company values are a recruitment tactic and are not persisted by the management team. Additionally sometimes it felt like the incredible work we did as a company for the community was nothing more than a method of cheap, good publicity. The work mattered and we really helped people, but sometimes it just felt disingenuous. Overall you will have one of two experiences at Spreetail; you will either drink the kool-aid and reap mediocre benefits, or you will be overworked, overstretched, and underpaid. With a company direction unestablished and a policy of unexpected departures, make sure you have your exit plan from day 1.

There's a bubble, the bubble contains people who have a stake in the company. The frequent hiring of industry-leading experienced people, only to let go and replaced with someone from the inside is absurd. Immediate red flag for everyone on board. For the effort we all put in, the pay was mediocre. The merit raise is not a guarantee and expect to "prove" your value in front of upper management when in reality they have no clue what they want to see. Mix that with an already overworked team leads, you get great people leaving simply for less stress and equal reward. It started to spiral downward when they decided to throw an inexperienced engineer (I say engineer lightly) in the CTO spot. You could collect all the engineers who've left in the last 12 months and fingers would point ultimately back to this guy, one way or another. He has a severe lack of people skills and carries one of the most antic egos imaginable. Whenever he talks, everyone in the crowd is lost at what he's attempting to say - it's clear now he definitely didn't know what he was trying to say. All smoke, waiting on others to do the work for him. No vision. There's clearly more "ties" between him and the rest of leadership, no company in their right mind would let him stick around. Instead, they decided to demote likely the ONLY person that the entire software department would advocate for. The only person who we would have worked our butts off for. Imagine that. The turnover issue starts here. Even with that said, the .COM push (and yank) has lead the company to where it is today. Adding a company metric around hiring (hope everyone likes their backpack), pumping the offices as full as possible - literally. All to put over a hundred people out of a job. Where's the humility? Layoffs happen, it's the industry, but the way it was approached, the rumors, the lack of heads up, what kind of severance? No more company trip, no more giving to non-profits. The job market is wide open and there's not a lot Spreetail can do to recoup any time soon. Think long and hard before accepting a position here.