Kittens and Stuffed Animals Rule! - Anonymous employee MEDRIO Employee Review

If office snacks and happy hours are what interests you, there are plenty of Medrio reviews that describe that. But if you desire real insights into the internal Medrio workings read on. Corporate Culture and Leadership Working at Medrio is like working within a Carl Hiaasen novel - bizarre facts that together create a reality even a fiction writer can't dream up. FYI, Carl Hiaasen is a best selling fiction writer. He writes his fiction based upon facts he's encountered as a journalist in Florida. In his own words, "I could never dream this stuff up." The difference at Medrio is it isn't fiction, and the more facts you know, the more bizarre the reality becomes. For a San Francisco startup, Medrio is an amazingly conservative company that tries to behave as a new age start-up with a culture borne isolated in San Francisco with no Silicon Valley wisdom. Management Leadership of a Few Typical Leaders Manager A Ask a question or make a comment that's not a softball and it's viewed as being negative. You may be called into a private chat and described how you "put him on the spot" in front of the group. No matter how well meaning, or even humorous your comment may be, just don't criticize. A well worn phrase in Silicon Valley is, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Unfortunately, part of Medrio's culture is one of speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil; an unintentional attempt at copying a bit of Google. Unfortunately, applying this philosophy internally means only their customers tell them what's wrong, no one in-house will dare speak anything less than flatteringly. When "the number one competitor is paper" (as repeated frequently by Management) this may seem acceptable, but in the high tech world it's self defeating. He obtains employee feedback using anonymous surveys asking employees to describe each others behaviors directly to him. Perhaps the insecurity is founded, as his credentials outside of Medrio are impossible to find. He's learning on the job. Manager B As a former programmer there's no topic he doesn't have knowledge of; whether it be a grilled cheese sandwich or the meaning of life. Attempt to instill your own experience and it's ignored because of course he knows everything better and in more detail than you. No matter your age or experience, you'll be viewed as a rookie Millenial in his eyes. As women, we're use to this, but if you're a guy, get ready to suck up. As the major cultural influencer, he spreads his conservatism (from a New York city based company) throughout the company. As an example, he changed pay periods from twice per month to biweekly (a small-time financial tactic used in the previous century) meaning you get to deal with erratic pay periods, all to benefit Medrio's bottom line; A small but telling indicator of the degree the company cares about employee convenience. He's also been pondering whether to allow employees to wear shorts and sandals; an accepted norm for decades in Silicon Valley. And he's instituted an quarterly performance review process on par with a multi billion dollar New York City financial institution (more on that below). Manager C Hand-picked Millennials willing to genuflect to him have been promoted to high levels with no formal training. As an all-controlling micro-manager he'll tell you when and how high to jump. And if you don't jump, you'll be gone in short order (whatever your department) while he smiles on. He's allowed to run the his department almost as a separate company. Honest. Read on. Just like Carl, I can't make this stuff up. Together, this odd Trinity attempt to direct a roomful of cliquish Millennials with little experience. And they'll be your sole mentors, as you'll acquire no formal training from outside sources. Couple this with primitive tools (think Lenovo Stinkpads laptops barely suitable for basic word processing), and your skill sets will rise to the level of theirs. Facts Better Off as Fiction: Firstly, they'll claim to have over one hundred employees. The truth - as of October 2014 there's about fifty in San Francisco - all the others are contractors in India. This is partially, but not entirely responsible for the paltry and expensive health benefits, non existent flexible spending accounts and lack of 401k matching. Bizarre Quarterly Performance Reviews Annual Performance reviews are of the 20th century tradition using a 1 thru 5 rating scale where a 3 means "often exceeds expectations". And a 3 is where most people are expected to fall into. Unfortunately, a 3 by Medrio management can also mean you're "the worst in the company" Keep reading. Like Carl, I couldn't make this stuff up. Some have had great annual performance reviews (3+) only to have it reversed by a higher level manager who believes differently. Great by one manager, and a pariah by the next, for no other reason than "your other manager was wrong." One Manager sends out periodic popularity surveys asking each and every employee to anonymously rate any, or all other employees on two factors: 1) Do you have a positive effect upon the culture, and 2) Are you effective in executing your day to day functions. Sitting in the open floor plan somehow still doesn't afford the collaborative camaraderie desired. 
These surveys theoretically have no effect upon your performance review, but be advised, some have been terminated for simply failing the culture test after these surveys (Clue - The Holy Ghost and his favored Disciples had best like you.) And if you don't rank highly within this extraordinarily broad and subjective criteria, there's absolutely no feedback that you can use to correct your shortcomings. Kittens and Stuffed Animals Yes, they use kittens and stuffed animals as their motivational tools and cultural icons. Honest. There's an animal for doing good things (a stuffed fish), and an animal for admitting you messed up (a stuffed penguin). Every Thursday you'll be subjected to this cultural oddity at the company wide "Standup" where if you're "lucky" you'll be the recipient of one of these "awards". Maybe. Mostly the same people pass the awards among themselves; something akin to public ego stroking. The kitten - canine lovers beware - is the corporate mascot. Periodic "Medrio Mingles" are held by one manager to replenish the ceaseless exits from his department. These are after-hour mass interviews, where the interviewees get judged for their worth and put in queue for the next door opening - if they pass the cultural muster. Hold your breath because it won't be long. Just be sure to genuflect during your interview. But Wait, There's More! You Get to Sleep with Them! Periodic "Medrio Sleep Overs" are held. If you want to get ahead you'd best sleep among them. Not one-on-one of course, a group slumber with the other aspiring minion in the office of course. If you wear the right PJs and jump when commanded, you too can become a Disciple. At least one intern has risen to a Directorship following this path. Sooner or later this will lead to something sketchy. Like Carl Hiaasen says, "You can't make this stuff up." The Product The product is straight out of the last century despite a recent UI facelift. Additionally, it isn't scaling. It's basically a prototype that because of the unusual usage patterns of the users has fumbled its way into a commercial product. Now, it's crumbling under the load. The basic software infrastructure was created on the fly by rookie coders lacking any wisdom in creating software as a service. With an engineering culture that compares themselves to themselves (and wood and graphite writing tools), describing Medrio's vision as myopic is an understatement. The Future With this, Medrio's future is predefined, but because of the sluggish development environment (they cater to FDA research) it may drag on for a while, additionally they're pretty much self-funded. Yes, they're making money. But with a philosophy of "make a little, expand a little" it will take years to make significant progress (unless you're comparing this to paper!). Any company willing invest 50 or perhaps $150 million that can put together a seasoned team using modern software tools to create a scalable product can terminate Medrio's existence quickly. The garage-shop mentality and resultant product is ripe to be snuffed. Hmm. Now that's an idea!