Spreetail as a whole is basically like a political campaign. On the surface, things are so transparent and goal-oriented and the CEO is so forthcoming, but everything said is calculated, the company mantra is just words painted onto a wall, and they lead people to believe things are better than they are. So when the company had to randomly lay off 100 people just a couple weeks after the quarterly pep rally, everyone was shocked.
The problem comes down to the leadership. Most of the senior leads have had zero experience outside of Spreetail and enduring the growth. And just because you managed a department when there were ten people in it does not mean you’re equipped with the skills necessary to effectively handle a department of one hundred.
As individuals, members of leadership are completely in over their head with how to do their job, and on top of that, they have so many things for which they are responsible outside of just being a leader. The people I interacted with who are in leadership positions are great people, but they’ve received no training on what it means to be an effective leader and so they all just do the other parts of their role and completely ignore the leadership aspect. Furthermore, leaders are never held accountable for being terrible at being leaders. So if a lead has a team of five and all five on their team either quit or are fired, that lead’s manager doesn’t even entertain the idea that maybe that has something to do with the fact that their subordinate needs some developmental help. Because that would mean that then THEY need to be a leader, and again, there is no precedent for the importance of that. To be honest, I don’t even know what a “lead” does other than threaten to end your employment unless you make yourself start performing better. They never tell you how to do better or take the time to develop your skills, they just let you know what will happen if you don’t get it together.
Similarly, Spreetail does not have an HR department. If an employee has an issue with being harassed or discriminated against or another uncomfortable topic, they have no one to talk to about it. If you’re one of the few with a leader that knows what they’re doing, you could possibly talk to them about it, but they’ll probably have no idea how to handle it other than to tell you to “Act Like an Owner” and handle it yourself. If you’re having trouble with your lead, you may as well just quit, because going up the chain of command to try to seek help is not an option since all the leads are buddies and will always advocate for the decisions of other leads rather than be objective and understand that sometimes, even someone in a managerial role can make a bad call.
Despite what they sell with the whole Radical Candor thing, there is no such thing as direct feedback at Spreetail. The place operates on a steady stream of gossip and he said/she said. If person A has something to say to person B, they will likely tell their lead who will tell person B’s lead who will then blindside person B during an review. And because we’ve all played the Telephone game, you know how quickly a story can be changed. Depending on how brown your nose is, you may or may not be able to get away with this. But standing up for yourself in the face of gossip and bullying is not an option, because then you’re marked as someone who can’t “take feedback”. And even if what is being said is recognized as rumor, it’s still widely accepted as truth. A true middle school throwback.
In Customer Experience, they say that there are “shift differentials” that can affect how much you are paid. They say they start at a base line amount and from there, people who work non-traditional hours (either really early starts or really late ends to the shift) make and additional $.50, those who work weekends get an additional $1, and those who work overnight get an extra $3. When I started finding out what others were making, I realized how blatant of a lie this is. I am a woman and I learned that a man working “traditional” hours Monday – Friday was making $2.50 more than me. He was not the only one. I brought up this issue to leadership and was told if I keep talking about pay, I will be let go. When I brought up The National Labor Relations Act which protects an employee’s right to discuss their pay, I was reminded that Nebraska is an at-will employment state, so they don’t have to provide a reason when they fire me, so it being my right is a moot point. Nice!
When it comes to internal growth, I can only speak for what it’s like growing within Customer Experience or trying to leave CE to go to another department. First and foremost, what it means to be successful in your role enough to grow out of it is so unattainable that I never saw anyone actually do it. I watched some people grow because exceptions were made for them or there was a need in another department which eclipsed the ridiculous expectations of CE. A lot of my coworkers changed roles when CE restructured and diversified (before the current expectations for growth were set). They were all told they would have to be in their new role for 90 days before they were eligible for a raise. Kinda annoying, but I also understood the rationale: they wanted to be able to speak to performance within new roles before giving those raises. But then 90 days went by and they all had to fight for their raises (because you don’t GET your raise after 90 days, they merely start discussing how much your raise should be after 90 days), which were set dollar amounts (not open to negotiation or influenced at all by performance). If in your previous role you worked weekends and now you don’t, you only get a $.50 raise since you don’t get that extra $1 anymore… unbelievable.
For a while, I had a lot of love for Spreetail, so seeing it go down the toilet was hard. I tried to offer feedback and suggestions, but in order to make things better, you have to recognize that there are opportunities to improve. Accepting and admitting that there are problems is something that Customer Experience will never do and something Spreetail as a whole will only do after a massive lay off when someone calls their bluff. Self-preservation is really all they care about, so they only want yes-men who will blindly follow directions. The amount of gaslighting is truly impressive (it’s not them, it’s you!). So unless you put on the Nike’s and drink the Kool-Aid, you’ll be promptly shown the door.
If you’re thinking about working for Spreetail, my advice to you is to think of it as a “job” and not a “career”. There is no future for you at Spreetail, because you eventually quit out of frustration. Apply to other places, and if you get a job offer at Spreetail, ask for more money than they offer you, because once you are in your role, there will likely not be another opportunity to negotiate your pay. Once you’re there, keep your head down. Do not help with other projects besides your own because one or two quickly becomes five or six. Also be careful who you confide in. Basically, be a really optimistic ghost.
Honestly, if you’re thinking of working at Spreetail, just apply somewhere else. I’ve heard really good things about Costco.
