Great coworkers. Company lacked transparency - Product Designer Echo360 Employee Review

Flexible work environment so I can work from home, Starbucks or Ohio! Good colleagues and supporting education is not a bad mission.

There’s been a lot of changes and it can feel really chaotic at times. But No employer is perfect….

A small group of decent humans

Let's go through everything this company does and says, and you can come to your own conclusions. I worked for a company for 10 years, when we were acquired by echo360. Our company had a policy that at 10 years, you get a 1000$ gift. But guess what, we were acquired 5 days before my 10th anniversary. Did I get the gift? Absolutely not. Why should I possibly expect that? Then, our benefits were gutted. Our health costs doubled. And sure, this can happen. Maybe you don't feel bad about that. Let me keep going. They started firing people. Zero notice. 2 weeks severance for everyone. Then they fired more people. They didn't even ask anyone at the company on who should be let go based on who is most important. It all came down to a number on a spreadsheet. Then they fired more people. 1.5 weeks before Christmas. 2 weeks severance. Is anyone getting a job 2 weeks before Christmas? Everyone knows, no one hires during that time. An entire product department was fired. They shoveled them all into a single conference call and offed them all at once. Classic echo360 efficiency. Speaking of efficiency, employee efficiency is very important to echo. Every employee tracks every minute of work they are doing at all times. This somehow let's them pretend they know how much money they spend to build a feature. That would be true if they knew how to build features at all. Instead they let the app rot away and pretend it works hoping people will buy it still. They have acquired 5 companies and have done nothing to integrate any products together, despite claiming they have. They never will, because it is impossible with the talent remaining there. This review won't deter you from working at echo360, because when the CEO says "we are always looking for top talent", they will never hire anyone, because it would mean a number on their spreadsheet would go up. They also don't believe in annual raises. Not even cost of living. "Not everyone earns one" they say. Only a select few who have earned the favor of their overlords earn this precious reward. For the board: I could write a small excel spreadsheet program that would automate the work your current CEO and CFO do. It would save you a ton of money and then you could let those two go, and everyone else who "yes mans" them. The formula is, "Don't pay bills, fire most expensive people first after acquisition". Oh, and if you just got acquired by echo, start looking for new work. You will soon have to anyway. I've had lots of memorable moments at echo. Our first all hands with the CEO, he went over company values and what matters most. He specifically wanted to call out, and make sure everyone knows (and he's said this multiple times), that when deciding what we should do, we first ask the question, "Is it ethical?". Seriously? But oh how revealing this statement turned out to be from him. Who really needs to point out that as a company, you first decide that something is ethical? As if that is some lofty bar to reach? And the irony is, he is not an ethical person. At least not moral. In his mind there is a massive difference I'm sure. He takes no ones feedback, claims that "best idea wins", but really means my idea. And anyone who pushes back, he yells at. Yes. Yells. Like a toddler not getting a cookie. He likes yelling at people and treating them like a small child. Its so unprofessional and makes him tinier than he appears. I am so happy I left, but also so sad for those still being ground to a pulp there. There are some decent people. But all those with true influence at the top are too afraid to lose their job and get in trouble by the CEO that they all toe the line and watch bad things happen and do nothing about it. I write this in all seriousness. The company will claim all the bad reviews here are from "disgruntled employees" blah blah blah. I mean, yeah. Wouldn't you be disgruntled if you were fired without cause after 7 years of working there before being acquired and getting 2 weeks severance right before Christmas holiday? I mean, come on. None of this is "clash of personalities" or anything else. Its just a company that treats you like cattle. Thats it. Don't work here unless you want to be treated that way. I wish all the most important people still there, would just up and leave, and have the exec team all alone, hiring only temp contractors to do everything, and then let it crash and burn and have them all end up with nothing out of whatever future buyout they see for themselves. That would be true justice if it exists in this world.