Enjoyed Time There -- But Left for Distinct Reasons - Anonymous employee Khoros Employee Review

4.0
3 Apr 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most review sites tend to pull a polarizing crew --- people who absolutely adore their companies and are their biggest evangelists...and those who left with a sour taste in their mouths may it be from a lay off, one-off bas situation, etc. Well I hope that this review comes off as even-keeled, written by someone who both enjoyed and appreciated their entire time at Spredfast but also left for distinct reasons which continue to cause issues for the company. Spredfast is a great place to work in that the perks really provide a sense of pride and community -- free lunches, overflowing snacks, beer on tap, etc. They throw huge brand awareness events that cement their name in the marketplace and the city. You get to work with some of the most prestigious brands in the world. If you are entry level, Spredfast is a great introduction tot he world of SaaS, social media, startups, enterprise technology and business. You will work alongside some of the most prolific thought leaders in the industry and also important names in the general ATX tech world. Work/life balance is valued and it is an extremely friendly and collaborative atmosphere. There are specific times of year where the company comes together to work on interdepartmental passion projects that both strengthen the community culture of the organization but also the products. Working at Spredfast equipped me with the skills and experience needed to launch my career to the next level...but at another company. Which brings me to the cons which you can find in more detail below and are important to note.

Cons

LACK OF CAREER ADVANCEMENT: Manager's lack of commitment to professional development (particularly in the services organization, where pay is not competitive) has caused Spredfast to lose top talent to other startups and tech companies in the city. There are whisperings about this being addressed now. They have a solid lead of talent and development on board who pushes managers to make these changes -- however, the data speaks for itself and employees continue to leave Spredfast for this reason. Kombucha and beer on tap can only keep employees for so long. Snacks don't always translate to real appreciation or compensation. Without clear and methodical approaches to career advancement and professional growth, Spredfast will continue this trend. They do not use any real rubric to measure performance and as result, promotions are simply based on politics and glaring organizational gaps rather than merit. There are, however, a few select people who have moved up continuously in the organization due to perceived favoritism. LACK OF SYNERGY BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS: This is a problem at almost any SaaS company. But for Spredfast, it's more of an organizational issue rather than heads butting between departments. Several job titles perform the same job, for different kinds and amounts of compensation. Way too many cooks in the kitchen on one account -- causing confusion for clients and frustration between departments. And sales general lack of understanding of product causes for over-promising to clients HOLDING ON TO STALE TALENT: Like another reviewer commented, because of the familial culture of the organization, mediocre talent still exists in the office. Again, without a true rubric to measure performance, Spredfast lacks the infrastructure and systems to trim the fat of such people. This was particularly detrimental when a handful of sales hires were brought on whose knowledge of the industry was so low that the org suffered for about 2 quarters, causing the competition to rise above.

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Khoros Response
9y
Spredfast supports upward and cross-functional mobility and we encourage our employees to discuss interest in professional growth with their managers. We also conduct 360 reviews to collect professional feedback on employee performance. Employees that are not comfortable discussing advancement opportunities with their managers or are not getting the performance feedback they desire can always directly contact the People Team in order for us to assist in bridging those conversations with leadership. Candidly, we do not hang on to mediocre talent so if there is an employee who is under the radar or not hitting performance measurements, it’s imperative management is held accountable. As for the lack of synergy, that is a work in progress as it with any organization that has scaled as quickly as Spredfast has the past two years. We are constantly looking for new ways to reduce redundancy and foster cross-functional communication in a constructive and action-oriented manner.

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Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really great culture and relatively transparent

Cons

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Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

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