Not Everything Is As It Seems - Anonymous employee United Fray Employee Review

2.0
Sep 29, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people are what make coming into work everyday worth it. Decent work hours. Relaxed/casual office environment.

Cons

Office Environment: The open concept is amazing...until it's loud and you need some quiet. The CEO. The decline of the company (losing full time staff members) will most likely be because of the CEO. He is definitely quirky and socially awkward which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is apparent is that he is not genuine and cares very little about the people who work for him. He tries very hard to be "the cool guy" and ends up coming off as over the top and fake. You can easily tell when he's in a terrible mood and he seems to take advice or opinions (constructive or otherwise) extremely personal. He is quick to assign blame to anyone and everyone else (even for decisions he made that held to a failure) and in my short time there never heard him admit he was wrong. He does very little to try to get to know you in a genuine way and really will only speak to you when he needs something. The job itself is not difficult but managing the expectations of a CEO who is impossible to satisfy is difficult. The worst part about it all is that he refuses to believe anything about himself that is not positive. If you mention a flaw, he won't believe it. To him, everyone else is the problem. Other managers recognize hard working team members and praise or reward them for a good job. If you report to the CEO just be prepared to work tirelessly and take vacation when you can.

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United Fray Response
8y
Dear former team member, I'm sorry we were not able to build a relationship and I wasn't able to earn your trust and demonstrate the level of care I have for my team during your time with us. I can only hope that your short tenure on the team was the primary cause for that, but I hear you loud and clear that you did not feel appreciated or cared for. I can assure you that I care deeply about each member of our team and that providing a workplace that respects them, values them, and offers an opportunity to be challenged and to grow professionally is a core focus of mine. From the benefits we offer (healthcare, 401k, vacation and paid leave) to the weekly one on one meetings our entire management team is committed to, we are trying hard to build a positive culture here at United Fray. Working at our business isn't right for everyone. We are building something that hasn't been done before and it isn't easy. Every member of the team is vital and must be deeply committed for us to succeed. On top of that, we are also moving and growing incredibly fast and doing so the old fashion way... bootstrapped and with limited resources. We have made the INC 5000 list the last two years and the only way for a company to grow that fast is for our people to grow even faster. And that certainly also includes me. I most definitely am not perfect and I have much to learn about leadership and management. I'm working hard to learn quickly and to not repeat mistakes. If there is one thing I'd most hope to be judged by, beyond the success of our company, it would be the team I've been able to build here at United Fray as well as the positive impact we have had on current and former team members' professional careers. In many ways, our current and past team represents the best of what we are endeavoring to accomplish. I hope your time with us had some positive take-aways and it wasn't an all bad experience. And as an aside I totally agree on the drawbacks of our open office! Our in-the-works office makeover should provide more spots for people to find an opportunity to focus and filter out the hustle of the day. If you'd like to connect directly, while you likely already have it, here is my direct email that you are welcome to reach me at anytime Robert@unitedfray.com I hope wherever you have landed is a spot that allows you to be a successful member of your team.

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