Ethical but disconnected founders, overemphasis on process and lousy management - Senior Software Engineer Springboard Employee Review

From: VP of People Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. At Springboard, we have a core value to “take ownership” that is, “responsibility for our successes and failures - not only of our own projects but also those of the larger team.” I want you to know we take ownership for the ways in which you feel we have let you down. As you note, our Founders really believe in the cultural tenets of the company and insulting others is absolutely not tolerated. If you witness situations in which individuals act counter to our core values we ask you to raise it with senior management, People Operations, or any Exec or co-founder so that we can address it. Giving actionable, timely feedback with specific context not only demonstrates our “open, honest, and constructive” value but also helps us improve as a team. Overall we strive to make decisions at Springboard that are rooted in data and fact. We are proud to be both human and pragmatic in our approach to building systems and fixing problems. We're sorry to hear that this was not your experience and will work hard to ensure that our judgement and how we approach things is sensible (while building a company that is trying to do the impossible!). In particular, we’ve developed our compensation bands based on industry research and expertise, and individual appraisals are determined by level and scope of responsibility in addition to performance in the role. We have a twice-annual promotion cycle in addition to our annual compensation review to provide Springboarders opportunities for growth and recognition within our organization. Promotion cycles include 360 reviews to ensure we avoid what you are referencing. As we grow rapidly, we need to strike a fine balance between our values of “strive for excellence” and “decisive and execution oriented.” We don’t always get it right. If you have ideas for what we can start or stop doing to improve our approach, we are always looking for input on how we balance agility and speed with collaboration and supportive processes. Since you are a current team member, I urge you to reach out to me, our leadership or any member of our People Operations team, your Exec or our co-founders so that we can understand more about your concerns and address them more directly. We will also be launching new formal channels for feedback to senior leadership so that we can surface and respond to issues sooner. Thank you again for sharing your concerns with us. I look forward to working together to improve your experience as a Springboarder.