Sham company, serves you with lies on a gold platter! - Anonymous employee Relay (Canada) Employee Review

Don't be misled by all these reviews, everyone's expected and asked to leave reviews few months into their role and they keep a track of it. Horrible management lacking clarity and too much focus is one pleasing one man a.k.a the dictator CEO. Throughout my extensive work experience I have never come across a man so obsessed with proving his worth and wanting to manage all areas of business on his own than focusing on the bigger picture by letting his managers take the lead with their respective teams. No wonder they are no where near their competitors. 3 things you'll notice pretty early on; facade of a start-up, penny-pinching and CEO taking every single decision Facade A start-up is progressive, employees should feel part-owners and be able to ask questions anytime. At Relay you can't ask hard questions and anonymity is a crime. They frown upon anonymity and want to know who the criticiser is if any, and steer away from the tough questions a lot of people feel comfortable asking anonymously, CEO was visibly agitated when someone anonymously asked a question. Penny-Pinching There is no bonus component, only sales team makes commissions and they shut down any chatter about bonus when asked, all you get is worthless stock options, which by the way you would never know the value of and pay to exercise them :) Don't even get me started on how they try to convince they're paying as much as their industry peers that's an outright lie and a bogus claim. They don't believe in spending on growth or coaching for the employees, got services of joke of a coach who btw was only available to managers. Employees can't ask for resources since spending extra is a sin and you should make use of what is available already. Each team is supervised on a very tight budget so asking for access to tools goes nowhere. CEO is always right Now the best part! Our CEO Yoseph West doesn't care about job security and believes irrationality is the best way to lead. Managers need to do what he asks off them or face repercussions, can't present a case for their team cause end of the day CEO is going to decide what's right for each individual. Micro-management is the way to go! Relay has a 2 day in-office hybrid work setup, a new policy and CEO personally notes down individuals missing and would proceed to message their respective managers. Bonus; If someone takes a break and he thinks they're slacking he'd again message their manager and ask for whereabouts. If CEO doesn't like an individual their days will end abruptly with little to no explanation to team members. While promote from within is looked as an opportunity to grow existing team members personal biases decide who gets that opportunity. Unsaid rule; make sure you are well-liked and if possible bow down to the dictator CEO to be considered when that chance comes knocking. If you are considering, I'd highly highly advise you to save your 10 hours you'd have otherwise spent interviewing with them throughout the 10 or so rounds and utilise them elsewhere, this company is just not worth the mental torture.