A truly toxic workplace - Anonymous employee Smart Meetings Employee Review

1.0
Jun 17, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Office is in a beautiful area. The web team is good, and a few others there are quality people.

Cons

Basically everything else. The wife/husband CEO/President team are terrible people. They lie, manipulate and pit employees against eachother to get what they want out of employees. There is zero work-life balance. They expect you to devote your entire life to them when they give no good reason for you to do so. As many have said here, the CEO rules through fear and intimidation and wouldn't know good leadership skills if they were right in front of her. She is also a raging megalomaniac and frequently berates employees for no good reason. The only enjoyable times is when she's not around the office (which can be frequent, since she left for hours many afternoons during my time there all while sending office spies around to make sure all other employees were glued to their chairs). She wears so much perfume to try to mask the fact that she smokes that it's disgusting and often a distraction when she's near. Trying to get to know coworkers during and outside of business hours is discouraged, as the CEO is paranoid that everyone is talking bad about her or the company. People have gotten fired for socializing with each other outside the office. The turnaround in unbelievable. I worked there for about 4 months and saw 16 employees get fired or quit and often not get replaced so others are left with more workload. Only a few employees care about the quality of the product, and sadly the CEO is not among them. She cares more if you kowtow to her egregiously bad ideas and personality than if you do a good job. If you are actually passionate about wanting to produce quality work, you won't get much satisfaction here. Beyond the CEO, most employees that have been there more than a year (there aren't many considering the high turnover) are beat down and afraid of whatever or whoever the CEO might go off on next, often out of the blue. There is no camaraderie or support (profesional or personal) among employees, as most are too paranoid to inadvertantly cross the CEO Leadership does not invest in good people or good equipment. The chairs are more valuable than the computers, and most other equipment (copiers, etc) are substandard, amking it even more difficult to do anything in the ridiculous timeframes management demands (also because the leadership won't hire near enough people to handle the workloads—the CEO excuses this by going on and on about how the employees there should have a stronger work ethic. And yes, employees are often ordered to write fake good reviews on Glassdoor. Just read the CEO's responses to the many negative reviews on here to get a sense of how out of whack she and the company really are.

Explore other reviews about Smart Meetings

5.0
Jul 27, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The rare job that offers meaningful work, travel and a tangible product at the end of the month.

Cons

It really is a team effort so one negative person can change the dynamic but it is filled with talented, dedicated team members so the overall vibe is always positive.

1.0
Apr 1, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great products. Extraordinary events. Majority of the team is enjoyable to work with. Hybrid model.

Cons

•Poor leadership with a micromanaging owner who has created a challenging work environment. •Work-life balance is not valued; leaving the office at 5 PM is often looked down upon, with expectations to stay until 6-8 PM. •Travel can be enjoyable, but it often requires giving up weekends once or twice a month without additional time off to compensate. •While the team is small and committed, the workload is overwhelming, leading to potential burnout. There’s little downtime, and you’re always on the road and on tight deadlines. •Reporting issues: Revenue numbers often don’t align with commission reporting, requiring additional work to reconcile and ensure proper pay. This stems from poor systems, not staff errors. •The office is dog-friendly, which can be distracting in open spaces, especially during sales calls. Pets can sometimes cause disruptions, including accidents in common areas. •The office carpet is old, and certain areas of the office have unpleasant odors that can be off-putting. •While there are many plants in the office, small pests can be a nuisance at times. •Limited training opportunities make it difficult to feel supported in learning and development.

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