Embark Veterinary FAQ

Pros

Hands down the best part of working at Embark was the people. Everyone there is very motivated about canine health and takes a lot of pride in their work. The most tight-knit, supportive and fun group of people I've worked with! While there are definitely some issues at the top level, everyone there seemed to love the people on their teams and I was no different. Before the layoffs, they were pretty good about fostering a sustainable and supportive company culture: summer fridays, unlimited PTO, happy hours, etc. I imagine that's changed a bit with the overall direction of the company, but they definitely try to focus on life outside of work and avoiding burnout

Cons

Firstly, the pay was not competitive for the area. While the benefits and culture made up for some of that, they still could afford to pay entry- and mid-level employees much more than they're doing. Additionally, promotion from within is pretty rare, unless a direct superior leaves there are very rarely opportunities to move up. The big problem obviously is the overall direction of the company. After repeatedly stating that they weren't projecting any layoffs, they suddenly cut 20% of the entire workforce. They obviously severely mis-judged the viability of new products, and rented a huge office that was never more than a quarter full (they're downsizing in the next few months to a smaller space) It's a shame because Embark used to be an exciting place to work that was one of the most promising start ups in the vet world, but that's pretty clearly no longer the case. While the people there are great, if you're looking for a long-term company I'd unfortunately avoid Embark for the time being

Advice to Management

Seems like Embark made a lot of the classic mistakes rapidly-growing startups make: focusing entirely on rapid growth at the expense of the fundamental health of the company. Massively over-hiring, expand into multiple new products/areas all at once, and foolishly moving into a huge office that they were never going to fill.

Pros

Embark has a great culture and amazing benefits. People were great to work with and I learned a lot

Cons

The moral and meaning to work for the company seemed lower than when I started.

Pros

Everyone I've worked with is smart, hard working, and passionate about improving dogs' lives. Almost all are also pleasant to work with and respectful.

Cons

Even after some recent improvements to the scientist compensation scale, the pay is still below average, and there aren't a lot of opportunities for advancement as the company tends to hire externally rather than promote internally.

Advice to Management

Invest in keeping and training your experienced employees.

Pros

Everyone I've worked with is smart, hard working, and passionate about improving dogs' lives. Almost all are also pleasant to work with and respectful.

Cons

Even after some recent improvements to the scientist compensation scale, the pay is still below average, and there aren't a lot of opportunities for advancement as the company tends to hire externally rather than promote internally.

Advice to Management

Invest in keeping and training your experienced employees.

Pros

- Summer Fridays - Most employees who work here are great people, easy to get along with, and bought into the mission of improving the lives of dogs

Cons

The CEO is completely out of his element. He truly does care about the mission and Embark's product, but severely lacks the business acumen and people skills to lead an organization. He initially told the entire company there would not be layoffs, then proceeded to go through two rounds of layoffs, one which was fairly small, the other pretty significant. During the height of the pandemic, while most companies were downsizing office space, he decided to move to a very large space - which of course no one ever went to. Additionally, the CEO also broke the Covid Policy for his very own company - rules for thee, not for me. You can tell other members of the executive team are frustrated due to poor decisions the CEO continues to make, that puts them and the company as a whole in a tough spot. While most of the other exec team members are serviceable leaders, the Chief Product Officer does not help the business. She spends much of her time virtue signaling on LinkedIn, and trying to help former co-workers of a past employer, rather than focusing on our business, or even helping Embark's former employee's who were laid off.

Advice to Management

CEO either needs to step down, and find someone better suited for a CEO role, or sell the organization. Those are really the only 2 paths I see to success for Embark.