I joined Checkout with the mindset I was joining a fast-paced, growing Company with the ability to enforce lots of change and contribute to ongoing success. Seems as though I was sold a pipe dream… from around the moment Checkout raised their Series B, it was downhill from there.
In terms of day to day roles/duties - it’s almost like they only have a risk team in place as a tick-box exercise in order to obtain/retain European licenses. Recommendations and guidance from risk teams are frequently overturned by the powers above. Lots of ‘exceptions’ made for prohibited LoB’s and those which risk have advised against, more often than not due to commercial incentives. Due to the inability to introduce and improve process, tasks are carried out without a solid foundation behind them and unable to enforce the change to carry these out properly. My job merely became a ‘show up and tick some boxes’ without actually feeling like it was meaningful, had purpose or was even appreciated.
In fairness this wasn’t the worst as was being paid quite reasonably and was complacent in my role without being ‘stretched’, but of course in time you begin to feel like you can do more and miss the challenge. The cherry on top for me was the attitude throughout the Company late 2022 and throughout 2023. Communication from execs started become very bitter. Staff started to be laid off but in a secretive manner - some of my colleagues were in work on the Friday, and when I logged into work on the Monday, they were gone - account already deactivated. Didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye… ouch! People who had previously been promoted to team leads due to their own merit were back demoted to IC roles due to a ‘restructure’. Not to mention they continued to carry out some of their managerial tasks. Overall sentiment throughout the Company started to become very negative and it was hard not to recognise the vast decline in employee motivation.
It started to feel as if I was working in a dictatorship. The delivery and attitude of exec’s in AEM’s became sour. CKO introduced a 3 day RTO plan - this didn’t bother me, fine, I used to do 5 days I sure as hell can do 3. BUT, some colleagues expressed concerns, especially those in roles which don’t require F2F interaction such as software engineers. Instead of acknowledging their concerns, the CEO responded with ‘If you don’t like it, leave’. In fact, several times he stated in AEM’s, if you don’t like the way we are running the business then leave. What a way to make your employee’s feel unappreciated and as though their voice isn’t heard. It’s unsurprising that many employee’s have since left following this, myself included. The decline in our Glassdoor score and ENPS was clearly reflective of this, but nothing changed. It’s not so much the changes that were made, but the delivery and the way it was executed was terrible. (PSA - the office is not large enough for the amount of people required to be in for 3 days. There wasn’t enough desks for our department if all staff were in, people having to sit away from colleagues/in seats of other departments).
Roles not being backfilled - following several of my colleagues and my own departures, roles have still not been advertised or backfilled despite the dire need of the team. Some colleagues were carrying out two roles (for the same cost may I add) due to the Company’s inability to backfill a role they were supposed to be ‘temporarily’ covering.
Also what didn’t sit well with me, was employee’s were stripped of their right to anonymity. Several questions were asked in AEM via Slido, and those which (in my opinion) were the most fruitful due to happenings in the Company at the time happened to be anonymous. It was then announced that they will not be answering any questions asked by those who didn’t put their name… interesting. What about people who are anxious to put their name and would not ask otherwise? I believed Checkout was once supportive of mental health. At this stage, people are likely hesitant to ask questions without protection for fear of consequences.
My career at Checkout started as an exciting and promising one, but it’s honestly regretful for me to say that it wasn’t. To clarify, my colleagues were amazing. The best thing about Checkout was the people, but unfortunately I just can’t support how the Company is being run and the attitudes of the SLT. If dictatorships, not feeling appreciated, tick box exercises and lack of motivation are your thing - go for it.
