Spreetail reviews

3.6

66% would recommend to a friend

(143 total reviews)
avatar

Josh Ketter

62% approve of CEO

69% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

143 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

Return to all reviews
1.0
Feb 7, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are a few great people here - truly talented, genuine, and good hearted (though they’re fewer and further between the higher up the chain you go). The offices are nice. They encourage community involvement, and there are typically a few volunteer opportunities available at any given time for those interested. Unfortunately they also blast every single good deed they do on social media which leaves it feeling insincere and done more for good PR than anything.

Cons

There are two main groups who enjoy their time at Spreetail: 1) those fresh out of college with no prior professional experience to compare to, and 2) the kool-aid drinkers who have been there several years (but again who have little to no experience outside of Spreetail). If you DO have experience and are established in your career, you will probably not have a good time here. The leadership at Spreetail is a mess. It’s the blind leading the blind with an inexperienced, directionless executive team leading an equally inexperienced workforce. The company’s only plan is to “make more money” with no actual strategy or roadmap to get there. They also focus solely on revenue - NOT profit or margins - which is unsustainable and will inevitably be their downfall. If you ask genuine questions about or challenge leadership on this, it will fall on deaf ears and you’ll likely have a target on your back from that point forward. Deception is a common hiring tactic at Spreetail. I was deceived and completely misled by both HR and my hiring manager throughout the interview process. What they tell you about flexibility, unlimited PTO, and even your job description is all smoke and mirrors and ends up being a total bait and switch, exactly as a previous review mentioned. Do not think you are an exception to this - I experienced it firsthand as did many of my coworkers. In a new interviewer training class, my group was actually told by an HR team member to give a vague non-answer/dance around the question if candidates asked about the hours expectation and work/life balance. C’mon, Spreetail - if you’re going to demand ridiculous hours and zero work/life balance, at least own it to candidates. It’s not until AFTER you’re hired that Spreetail shows their true colors on this. The CEO actually stood in front of the entire company at a recent all hands meeting and declared that they want employees who will sacrifice time with their family and friends to focus solely on Spreetail. They expect and encourage employees to isolate themselves from everything else important in life and put Spreetail first, and to hear the head of the company so proudly preach that was unnerving. Which brings me to my next point... Spreetail puts the CULT in culture. This company truly has a cult feel, and you’re an outcast if you don’t drink the kool-aid. Their hyper-focus on a strong culture has had the opposite effect and has left it feeling totally fake, forced, and manufactured. There’s a complete indoctrination of the values and mantra during onboarding, but you will rarely see any of this lived out in the day to day. They talk a big talk but don’t walk the walk. The environment there is toxic and soul-sucking which explains why the turnover rate is so high. Their token “Spreetail is not for everyone” rebuttal for the insane turnover is a cowardly cop out to avoid acknowledging the crappy work environment and should be taken as a huge red flag that they have no intention of improving things. The CEO and his cohorts are the driving forces of the toxic culture at Spreetail. I’ve never seen such micromanaging leadership with so little trust in their employees to do their jobs. Short sighted vision, no transparency/poor communication, constant knee jerk decisions with no logic behind them (followed by an opposite knee jerk decision a few days later), insane/unrealistic expectations with no meaningful direction or support to get there. The benefits are a joke. Spreetail has no interest in your financial future/security. This is evidenced by the lack of a 401k program and instead a SARs program that is a total risk and doesn’t guarantee anything. They boast that they pay for 100% of employees’ healthcare, but they cover that by paying low wages so in the end you don’t actually win. Also their elective benefits such as life insurance, short/long term disability, etc. are insanely high - hands down the most expensive I have ever seen - and 100% employee paid. The unlimited PTO is a sham and their way of getting around having to pay out unused PTO. Not to mention you’ll be judged for taking any time off and are still expected to be connected on off days anyway. Spreetail has been around long enough to offer far better benefits, they just don’t care enough about their employees to do so.

2.0
Jan 12, 2019

Have an exit strategy from day 1

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you are early in your career this is the kind of place you want to start out. The business is overwhelmed by tons of different problems and wants to throw unexperienced, passionate people at them. You will have the opportunity to grow outside your degree and make a meaningful impact to those problems. If you want to start getting tons of great bullet points for the resume fresh out of school, you will have no problem doing so here. The business has been highly successful in their marketplace 'buy low sell high' mission. They have a powerful software backing their business that they have developed in house which enables them to power the machine at a low cost with high coordination with the business objectives. The people you work with are the most motivated and success driven I have ever worked with. The slackers don't last long here so you are constantly surrounded by people that want to push to improve in their own personal development and push the business forward. Community service is a primary objective of the business and the scope has extended much beyond the cities where they do business. From art revitalization to helping homeless get things to help them survive the winter months, the dedication they show towards making an impact should not be understated.

Cons

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.

2.0
Dec 18, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you're fresh out of school, this place has some good opportunities to work on interesting problems as it continues to grow like crazy. Benefits aren't very good, but the salary ranges are actually decent. They're too big to completely collapse, so as long as you're willing to put up with the directionless management you'll have a relatively stable place to work for the foreseeable future.

Cons

This place is a complete train wreck in terms of management. The company values are talked about during new hire training and then never lived out in any meaningful sense in the day to day of working there. The benefits package is way below average. No 401k and they consistently dance around when they'll add one. No opportunities to attend conferences or professional development things like conferences or certifications. The paternity and maternity leave policies are totally up to the whims of each department. Other reviews have already mentioned the push for 45 or 50+ hour weeks, and that workaholic mentality is actively promoted by senior leadership - the CEO has stood on stage and told the company that they want people who will sacrifice family and whatever else for Spreetail. Turnover is a mess - 25% or more in multiple divisions, and there has been no changes internally to try addressing it. I have yet to hear anything even resembling a company vision or what they want to do besides "make more money", and even the ridiculous revenue targets are mostly invented out of thin air. That pushes managers to make arbitrary performance metrics to accomplish those invented goals. The content team has been turned into essentially an SEO content farm, the customer service team has ridiculous goals for email response times and Net Promoter Scores (no one in any industry has the performance metrics that have been set for that department), business development has to create new revenue sources without support to actually run them. The list goes on and on. In short: you have a company that is endlessly chasing after more revenue and is willing to chew through its employees in the pursuit of that. It's fine if you're just starting out your career, but if you have anything resembling experience you're going to be endlessly frustrated every single day.

avatar
Spreetail Response
7y
We appreciate you taking the time to leave this review of your experience at Spreetail. 
We believe in transparency of our company’s vision: To make a dent in the universe by delighting millions of customers, creating opportunity and wealth for our team, while revolutionizing the communities we touch. This means we continually strive for betterment of not just our business, but in the lives of our team members and their families, and in the places people call home across the country. Though achieving revenue goals certainly helps us accomplish this purpose, there is so much more behind what we’re working toward than money. Additionally, we’d love to share more details about how we set company and departmental goals, and clear up any questions you have. Please contact your department’s Business Partner directly to discuss, or reach out to hr@spreetail.com. Thank you!
Viewing 127 - 129 of 143 Reviews

Glassdoor has 617 Spreetail reviews submitted anonymously by Spreetail employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Spreetail is right for you.