How is management perceived at Zola?

- Decent medical benefits, but in a perfect world, that would be a forgone conclusion for ANY company. - They were, at one time, supportive vis a vis work/life balance.

What was formerly a pleasant place to work has taken an insidious and unsettling nose-dive into outright "corporitization", wherein many of its purported core values and tenets ("Anything for Love", "For All The Days Along the Way") only apply to those above a specific pay-grade. Virtually anyone on the lower rungs of the ladder have extra, seemingly superfluous busy work fobbed upon them at no extra compensation, and will be made to feel demoralized and lesser-than when those expectations are not met. This also applies to those of us who are work-from-home parents and had been with the company from the literal ground floor for the better part of a decade. Additionally, things that were told in confidence to management were eventually used against me at subsequent performance reviews. What is more is that they dehumanized me and my family by referring to my daughter as "a disruptive work from home environment" in reference to one-on-one meetings being interrupted by my baby daughter occasionally being in need of my attention. They did not even refer to her by her NAME. The TLDR of it is this: they non-entitized my family, and tried to take me to task for being a good parent. True story - At my four-year work anniversary, there was a big hullabaloo over it. I was given $750 in Zola Store Credit, I got a personal slack message from its CEO, and there was an overall feeling of good cheer in the midst of uncertain times (this was at the height of the pandemic in 2020). Fast forward to 2024, I receive $200 in store credits, and a hoody with the company's logo on it. The fact is that there was never any incentive for anyone on my level to care more. I made well-under 60k per year and had been a loyal worker for over eight years. But hey, at least I got a hoody out of it. I cannot help but wonder that if I looked and dressed differently, and somehow worked closer to Shan Lyn and Rachel Jarrett, I would have been treated with more humanity. As it stands, I would heartily recommend not getting aboard this pastel-colored Hindenburg of a company.

There is absolutely nothing good about this company. The pay is pathetic, leadership is unbearable, and the workload is nothing but punishment.

- Leadership is deeply toxic and goes out of its way to make sure employees fail. - Demands are beyond unreasonable, and expectations are completely impossible to meet. - The only thing management cares about is finding someone to blame when problems happen, instead of fixing anything. - So many people have walked away from this place, all because of them. This company drains everything from you and leaves you with nothing but regret. Stay far away unless you enjoy being set up to fail.

Great work life balance overall

Very unrealistic metrics and managers pick favorites

- Some really great people work there - Sometimes we had cake

- Management changes their core business plan every other year - Recurrent layoffs (3 in 3 years) followed by restructuring followed by hiring without much thought. Just seems like a boat with a hole in the bottom that they keep having to bail out. - Not a lot of internal movement. Especially because they tend to lay folks off at the same experience level every time. - Micromanagement - Upper management is so attached/possessive of the business that they don't know how to be hands off. Not willing to listen to new ideas or take risks. Make decision based on their "gut" or experience, but doesn't seem to be very data driven. - Penny pinchers - management sacrificed a lot of core culture and joy when the numbers started failing. Also delayed yearly comp raises due to layoffs. - Company has lost its vision and its soul.

I've worked in many other companies before and experienced lots of different cultures, so like to think I have a reasonable and fair perspective here. I can confidently say: if you are humble, smart, a critical thinker, a team player, open-minded, growth-oriented, and positive -- you will love Zola. The culture at Zola expects excellence, and if that is exciting to you? Welcome aboard. You will be given growth opportunities, creative license, exposure, and product ownership suited to your aspirations. But paired with that commitment to excellence is an appreciation for work-life balance; many of the leadership team and company are parents with families, and there is a real empathy bestowed on those of us who are juggling life outside of work. The people here are dynamic, bright, and really f-ing good at their jobs. The business is at one of the most dynamic and fast-growing phases ever in its history, and you really feel the momentum across every team and business unit. The co-CEOs and management team have painstakingly built this culture over the past decade, and you really feel it from day one. If this is the place for you, it is REALLY the place for you. Many Zola employees stay for 5+ years. I joined the team this year, and in my immediate team of 12, I was the newest employee: the next newest employee had been here for 5 years. That should tell you something.

Remember when I said up there in the "Pros" section the qualities that make you a shoo-in to love Zola? If you are not ALL of those things, I will be very honest: you will struggle. And it is hard to find people who are all of those things, or have the EQ to realize what those things mean at Zola, where the bar is set higher than most companies. That is the honest truth. This is not a place for everyone. It's not a place to coast. It's not a place to expect your work to be taken at face value. It's not a place to phone it in. It's not a place that will tolerate assumptions of bad intent. It's not a place for putting your own ego before the needs of the team. I'm listing these as "cons" but they're not "cons" to the people who will succeed here. They're just realities.

I really enjoyed the culture and benefits while working at Zola. Every member of the team made themselves available for questions and help. There was never a time where I felt I couldn’t ask a supervisor a manager or team member for something and they would be annoyed or leave me hanging. Everyone is really so helpful.

The SNI agents ( mostly remote workers from the Philippines) cherry picked which tickets they wanted to tend to sometimes they took to the more simpler tickets to keep their numbers up and reroute it the more intricate tickets back into the queue. Management was very good about calling this out when we complained about it and sent out several announcements request requesting that this and requested that everyone take responsibility for the tickets that are routed to them. Unfortunately, my contract was not renewed because the company employed bots for our roles. I felt that this was greedy and disingenuous, but I do understand that majority of companies are moving in this direction for entry-level position positions.

bagels on thursdays. Most of the time, good work-life balance.

awful management stemming from the top. They have 2 CEOs, and one of them is rude, crazy, and powertrips. Everyone is afraid to speak up to her, and so the toxic leadership trickles down to VPs and directors. There will never be a change until they bring in a new CEO. Culture lacks diversity (almost all white folks).

- Some really great people work there - Sometimes we had cake

- Management changes their core business plan every other year - Recurrent layoffs (3 in 3 years) followed by restructuring followed by hiring without much thought. Just seems like a boat with a hole in the bottom that they keep having to bail out. - Not a lot of internal movement. Especially because they tend to lay folks off at the same experience level every time. - Micromanagement - Upper management is so attached/possessive of the business that they don't know how to be hands off. Not willing to listen to new ideas or take risks. Make decision based on their "gut" or experience, but doesn't seem to be very data driven. - Penny pinchers - management sacrificed a lot of core culture and joy when the numbers started failing. Also delayed yearly comp raises due to layoffs. - Company has lost its vision and its soul.

I really enjoyed the culture and benefits while working at Zola. Every member of the team made themselves available for questions and help. There was never a time where I felt I couldn’t ask a supervisor a manager or team member for something and they would be annoyed or leave me hanging. Everyone is really so helpful.

The SNI agents ( mostly remote workers from the Philippines) cherry picked which tickets they wanted to tend to sometimes they took to the more simpler tickets to keep their numbers up and reroute it the more intricate tickets back into the queue. Management was very good about calling this out when we complained about it and sent out several announcements request requesting that this and requested that everyone take responsibility for the tickets that are routed to them. Unfortunately, my contract was not renewed because the company employed bots for our roles. I felt that this was greedy and disingenuous, but I do understand that majority of companies are moving in this direction for entry-level position positions.