For every employee like me benefiting from the environment there was probably another one or two who did not have as positive an experience. In my view many of the negative reviews and experiences mentioned on glassdoor are a result of the high growth environment and the cons associated with growing revenue very quickly and the inevitable scramble to ensure your operational processes, technology and talent grow at the same pace to keep up with the high client demand being created. Depending on what year you join the company your experience could be quite different from those that joined before you just because of the 40% YoY growth and the changes that brought about. If I was a case of “right place, right time”, then others may have also been a good fit for the company but the clients / team / manager / context they joined in might have been going through a particular phase of change that led to them not experiencing the same positive ingredients that I did.
Summary of main cons:
Linked to above, there are not many individuals at the company in mid and senior management roles (me included) with prior experience of managing a business growing revenue at 40% YoY. With 11 years’ under their belt now they are always getting better, but at times it can feel like “blind leading the blind”. You can look at this as either a positive or a negative.
As a consequence of this once you reach middle management after 2 / 3 / 4 years it can be difficult to find role models / senior figures to learn from outside of the Founders. In the research teams there is a large population of the workforce with 0-5 years’ experience, but a very small population of individuals with 5-15 years’ experience. Many of those that are there do a good job, but their capacity is spread thin.
In the effort to keep talent growing at the pace of revenue there is increased temptation to compromise in the hiring process and in the past many people have joined that haven’t been a great fit. This has the double negative of turning those individuals often into disgruntled employees while also de-motivating the team members who are a good fit and looking to do well at the firm.
