Jan 19, 2023
EquityTeam Response
3yWe respectfully disagree (strongly) with this review and feel it was posted out of spite, pettiness, and retaliation rather than facts. We feel it’s important to provide some clarity and context around his points so that anyone interested in a relationship with our company can consider both sides.
We’ll start by emphasizing this person was hired to fill an important role that we hoped would develop into a leadership role over time. However, much to our dismay, we had no choice but to terminate him after only 3 short weeks. If it wasn’t around the holidays, it may have been sooner. Our official reason for termination was that it “wasn’t a good fit”, which is putting it mildly. As a gesture of goodwill toward an amicable end to the relationship, we extended him an extra 2 days' severance despite his very short tenure with us. That compassion got us this negative review ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
As far as some of his other points, we’ll quickly reply here, but we’re happy to elaborate offline with anyone who would like to learn more:
1). MISLEAD ABOUT POSITION: This position was very well defined; the job ad, during the interview process, and while he was training. For whatever reason, he seemed to ignore what was being explained to him and see it through his own filters. We can’t control that. He refers to another “Interview Review” on Glassdoor in 2022 as evidence we mislead people. Please read our response to that review for yourself and form your own opinion. The summary was we told that applicant he wasn’t qualified for the position he applied for, but he did have some skills we may be interested in, so we proposed a meeting to discuss the potential of a win/win contracted relationship. We were very upfront about that the entire time.
2). OWNER DOESN’T CARE ABOUT CULTURE: That’s a strange comment from this person because days before being terminated he complimented the company on its’ culture, how we work as a team, and how everyone seems to enjoy their position and working for the company. Even in this Glassdoor review he mentioned the “Pros” as “The people, with exception to the owner”, showing his review seems to be more of a personal attack on the Owner than objectively reviewing the company. It also indicates the company has attracted and retained a lot of great people. Like many growing businesses, we have a lot of newer people, but we also have people who have been here for over 15 years. Our first Core Value is “People First” and another value is “TEAM”. Considering our size and the dynamic industry we’re in, culture is one of our strengths. Any comment about us that insinuates we don’t care about culture is a contradiction of reality.
3). COMPLAINTS ABOUT OUR BENEFITS: We feel our compensation, benefits, and reimbursement programs are VERY GOOD for a company our size. We’ll let applicants form their own opinions about it during the interview process and if they like, they are welcome to speak to current team members who appreciate and are actively using those benefits. We, like most companies, don’t provide company-paid benefits during the first 90 days. One major reason is it’s not fair to the other team members, who have worked hard to earn those benefits, if we just gave them away to newcomers. We don’t see how this is a “red flag” for anyone who is sincerely interested in being a valuable member of our team. Our Unlimited PTO program is real and works VERY WELL. We support a great work/life balance, as much as we can within an industry that is as dynamic as ours. If (for example) answering a quick text over a 4 day span, during a generational winter storm, about a property you’re accountable for overseeing, from an internal team members whose job is to help take care of said property, is too much to ask of you, you’re not going to fit within the team culture we’re trying to build here.
4). OWNER IS POOR COMMUNICATOR; DOESN’T LISTEN TO OTHERS; USES PROFANITY: Interesting that we received this criticism from someone who received multiple complaints daily from customers and internal team members, about his rude, abrasive communication. The Owner, and most members of the team are direct communicators. We’re tactful, professional, and resourceful. We’re in a problem-solving business that requires us to be direct to do our jobs well. Most people appreciate that, and if you don’t, that’s ok, but we’re not the place for you. Ask our current team members how much the Owner values team feedback, including our Senior Leadership Team who meet regularly to guide the company’s growth collectively. It’s likely this reviewer didn’t feel “heard” because his interests didn’t align with the company’s focus and values. For example, he thought it was appropriate to send multiple unsolicited (and condescending) emails to managers on how the company should operate, which only benefited him and his position, and wasn’t in the best interest of the company. Lastly, if lighthearted profanity in casual conversation, outside of a professional setting, is a problem for you….you probably won’t like working here, and that’s ok.
5). HIRING PROCESS: Our interview process is as involved as it needs to be based on the position and applicant. He was hired for an important managerial role, which may involve some extra due-diligence. Specifically, his application was active for around 2 months partially because we weren’t in a hurry (which we disclosed to him) and partially because we weren’t certain if he was a great fit. He had plenty of time to remove himself from consideration, but never mentioned any concerns during the hiring/onboarding process. It may be telling that when he was removed (terminated), the first question out of his mouth was “are you going to fight unemployment?”, which was very odd, and a first for us.
Ultimately, our business and our company isn’t for everyone, and that’s ok! Since we want to be the best in our industry, we only want All-Stars on our team. However, finding competent people isn’t enough. There has to be competency AND a cultural fit. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with this “anonymous” person. We wish him well.