Embark Veterinary Reviews

Pros

The one major pro to this company was the team and the people I was on and surrounded by. Everyone was truly so caring, fun and nice, so it was a nice change of pace from previous jobs.

Cons

Where to start.... 1 - Embark likes to "take pride" in how diverse and inclusive they are but there is very much a lack people of color in the company as a whole but also specifically the higher level and C level positions are all held by white people, and more predominantly white men. There were multiple surveys that were taken and concluded that there were microaggressions used towards people of color and they tried to use other ways to act like they were being inclusive and diverse but failed at that too. 2 - For months Embark was stating that we were "on the up and up", and even were presented bonuses in the months lading up to the massive layoff of about 30% of the company. They gave us zero indication that there was a problem with our fiances and left many former employees blindsides and angry. After all that, they acted like they were doing us a service by providing external resources after being laid off, so the arrogance that these people had is shocking. This was also their 2nd round of lay-offs. 3 - There is no room for growth at this company unless your superior were to either take leave or leaves the company completely, which does nothing for anyones career growth

Pros

If you resonate with the company's mission of improving overall canine health, this used to be "the" pet tech startup to work for

Cons

Embark's definitely not what it used to be. The leadership team has no past experience leading a startup through rapid growth (like what the company saw in 2020 and beginning of 2021), and now with that growth slowed, they've gone through 2 rounds of layoffs in just a few months, even after the CEO stated publicly on several all-hands in Q3/Q4 2021 that no layoffs were in the picture at Embark. The executive team WAY over-indexed on company culture, like hiring frivolous positions that are in no way necessary for a startup still trying to find its footing, and renting an unbelievably large office space in downtown Boston that hasn't been even close to capacity once. Even after these attempts, the company's work culture is still very toxic, with clashes inside the engineering org almost daily. The CTO created an elite committee that's supposed to "guide" the engineering team on best practices, but even they can't decide on paths forward. Avoid Embark at all costs - the financial footing of the company clearly isn't as great as the leadership team is painting it out to be, and more layoffs are almost certainly in-store. A lot of people are going to start jumping ship too.

Pros

Very nice coworkers who care a lot about the welfare of dogs.

Cons

Embark used to be a very nice place to work but that place is now dead. Embark recently laid off 20% of their workforce after a previous round of layoffs a few months before. Embark is going to do significantly more layoffs in the future as the company is losing tens of millions dollars a year with no plans for growing the company. The executives saw a small amount of success during Covid and let it get to their head. They immediately began to badly overhire with no understanding of the market. They hired a huge amount of unqualified executives and managers who have never worked at a scientific or engineering company. Employees are now treated like garbage, with many employees forced to work extreme hours, only to get laid off a few months after they were hired when then execs inevitably change their minds about a project they had just created. The execs have no clue how to run things, they don't listen to the concerns of the employees trying to explain that they have unrealistic revenue targets and timelines, and the executives treat the company like it's a toy they can play with instead of a serious company that needs to make money. Stay as far away as you can. Embark's main competitor is 1/10th the size and outcompetes Embark due to being run by competent management.

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.

Pros

- Feel good mission to extend the lifespan and wellspan of dogs (with potential to learn more about human biology as well) - Exciting, cutting edge category with a product that users are emotionally invested in - Brand of choice amongst consumers, synonymous with accuracy and scientific leadership - Limitless product opportunities - DNA offers a jumping off point to many other areas - Employees are passionate about pets and science, and possess a wide range of skill sets - people from consumer e-commerce, academia, diagnostics, pharma, etc. - Company values action & impact, giving agency and accountability to teams, respect and empathy - My team (product) in particular is stacked with super talented people who are a pleasure to work with. Contrary to a frankly bizarre statement in an earlier review, the strength of this team really comes down to a lot of hard work by the CPO to recruit, shape, and empower the individuals in it.

Cons

Like many companies, Embark has unfortunately seen some layoffs due to pandemic-related overgrowth - which has impacted morale somewhat and resulted in some spicy comments on Glassdoor that should be viewed in that light. From my perspective, Embark’s biggest issue is that, like other companies at this awkward teenage phase, it’s struggling to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. This trickles down into a lack of strategic focus and competing visions for the ideal org design and operating model. Embark is also struggling with a lot of technical debt - way too much for a company of this size and vintage. This makes it a lot harder to ship product than it should be.

Pros

Exciting mission, many coworkers also passionate Reasonable comp Fun technology

Cons

Lacking exec accountability and self-awarness. For example, in a previous layoff, an exec posted in a public channel just after the following bonus showing an expensive new purchase. Similarly, in the most recent layoff, the c suite took no pay cut and is still taking bonuses. Portioning relative to competitors is poor. They're being out done on price and advertising by competitors as well, so they're somewhat lacking a strategy at the moment to compete. The culture has changed dramatically in the last couple years, increasing bureaucracy. We have hired a number of manager and director staff that approach their positions with cynicism and a lack of respect, and despite repeated complaints little is done to coach them or effect cultural change.

Pros

Good benefits. Devs have a lot of freedom to try new technology

Cons

Embark has gone through 2 rounds of layoffs and will go through more as the company is extremely financially unstable. Executive management does not understand the business. They make and kill projects on a whim, laying off the workers involved in the project often after only a few months. They do no market research and don't listen when told that their ideas are not possible or don't make financial sense. Engineering management is poor and often results to attacking dev teams that ask for help. Engineering teams are often forced to work extreme hours to meet an unrealistic deadline and the engineering managers hide in a corner instead of helping. If you work here you will regret it like so many do now. The positive reviews are from before the company started to struggle, no one would rate Embark positive now.

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

Pros

Environment for growing and learning Great benefits and work-life balance Meaningful work with a quantifiable impact Smart, kind, passionate people

Cons

Growing pains for high growth startup Evolving leadership models

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.