A review that's actually honest and insightful. - Anonymous employee NewAir Employee Review

First, it’s important to note that the NewAir Glassdoor rating and vague reviews are largely a result of NewAir asking us directly to write them, and incentivizing them with a gift card giveaway. While they may not be entirely fake, I just don’t think they’re very helpful. For starters, there is a significant lack of communication among the leadership team, and an even more significant lack of communication between leadership and their employees. Plans, meetings, events, new company-wide initiatives, hirings and firings, and even updates to office equipment and décor were often difficult to keep track of. There was always some misinformation, last-minute changes, emails sent too early or not at all, disagreements among leadership about implementation, etc. Someone would get a promotion and move to a bigger office, only to be kicked out a week later so the new hire could have it. Then a week after that, it’s converted to a conference room. It was often frustrating trying to figure out what exactly I was supposed to be doing/expecting as an employee. Some of this was growing pains, but that doesn’t explain all of it. When I started, our reviews were supposed to happen once a year on the anniversary of our start date. When I reached my one-year, I was told the new plan was January reviews for everyone. January came, and I had to repeatedly ask for my review until it finally happened in June. There was never any hope of a noticeable increase in pay, despite my responsibilities increasing drastically over the two years I was there. I was finally in talks about being switched to a truly competitive wage when I was laid off. Whenever we did have a proper review, the pay increase I asked had to be approved by HR, but it never was. I had to check in frequently to make sure the request would be passed along, only to hear that it was rejected several weeks later. Even my initial job description contained an over-promised pay—there was never a time when my pay was competitive given the work I was doing. Turnover at NewAir was extremely high the entire time I was there. Again, partially growing pains, but not entirely. My team was perhaps the most secure of all of them, and 3 of us were laid off in the same day without an inkling of an idea that our jobs were not totally secure. I think the bigger issue is a heavy emphasis on cost efficiency over employee happiness and longevity, in addition to an obsession with implementing every “latest and greatest” business strategy as soon as possible, even if it means laying people off before they have the chance to invest in what they were asked to do when they got hired. To top it off, every employee departure was handled in a different, confusing way. Sometimes we got an email a week before, sometimes a week after, sometimes not at all. It always felt weird and confusing when someone left, and it became a breeding ground for rumors and drama every time. It’s very clear that at NewAir, the most important thing is money. Businesses run on money, I know, but I was never given any reason to feel properly valued there. There was never any practical, reasonable effort to improve employee happiness or longevity beyond the occasional social event or addition to office amenities. Any feedback we gave (through surveys, etc.) always seemed to fall on deaf ears. NewAir honestly seemed more concerned with winning misleading “best place to work” awards than they were about actually seeing employee satisfaction grow. Employees need frequent performance reviews, clear job descriptions, truly competitive wage, and a tangible, detailed explanation of what the roadmap of growth might look like for them. Some positions don’t have room for growth, which I understand. But don’t tell every new hire that there’s lots of room for growth if there isn’t. The administrative side of things was difficult as well. I was hourly the entire time I worked there, and my pay and timesheet information was always a mess. Some of this is a byproduct of California labor laws and my responsibilities not lending well to an hourly schedule. But any time I needed a timesheet edit, sick/vacation time approved, or an answer to a payroll question, I had to nag multiple people for a week or more to get it done. I had at least three pay periods completed and paid out even though they were missing several work hours, meaning I wasn’t paid for those hours until two weeks later. When I was given a small raise to my hourly rate, the amount I requested was rejected and I was told there wasn’t room in the budget for it. But then my new pay was input incorrectly at the amount I asked for (despite the budget issue) and even after bringing it up several times, it was never addressed. My 401k was never explained properly, and I worked six months to get it “fixed” when apparently I was unable to contribute to it anyway, which I didn’t find out until after I was let go. There is a general lack of effort toward maintaining an “above reproach” business at NewAir. I found myself regularly butting up against some practices that I would not consider ethical or even helpful from a business standpoint. Nothing uncommon these days in the e-commerce, Chinese manufacturing-fueled business world, but certainly not a conscious effort to put product safety, customer satisfaction, and employee integrity at the top of the priority list. The final nail in the coffin for me was the process of being laid off. I understand completely that some companies have to lay off employees—what I don’t understand is how they manage to handle it so poorly. For starters, I was pulled away in the middle of an important project with an outside contractor in order to be laid off, effective immediately. I had to explain to our contractor what happened, and pack up my stuff and go without wrapping up any of the hundreds of tasks I was in charge of. This all seemed odd after watching recent layoffs use their last two weeks to wrap up their work. Additionally, there was no paperwork completed or ready for me to review and sign during the meeting. I didn’t receive any proper paperwork until a week later by email. When I did receive the paperwork, the information was different from what I was told in the meeting. Any response I sent after that was met with what seemed like non-answers and sidestepping, and it took weeks to get proper answers to my follow-up questions. It was clear that the cost efficiency was still the highest priority, even while they were trying to let me go.