Emma reviews

There's at times too much of a focus on big group events, alienating introverted workers who don't attend the big parties. The biweekly all-staff meeting necessitates standing in front of 150 co-workers and making a case for the projects each staffer is working on. It's a mandated, anxiety-ridden time for those who are more successful working with their heads down than standing in front of everyone, with knocking knees. There's no Human Resources Department, making it difficult when there are questions about pay and career advancement. The Talent Manager sits in on performance reviews, which seem to be an opportunity for her to talk and not the worker. Sometimes these performance reviews are held for a second time without her to give the worker the chance to actually have a conversation about their past year with their supervisor in a non-judged way. It is very difficult to be promoted or receive a salary bump if you aren't what's internally called an Emma All-Star: These are staffers identified close to their hire date as being a stand-out and likely to move on from their entry-level position. I'd say it's a commonly felt understanding, and those who aren't All-Stars aren't given much motivation to work hard when they aren't tapped or accepted for special projects or given a clear path for career advancement. Some managers are so intent on hoarding their team members that those members are ignored for promotion opportunities, with the team manager and Talent Manager saying the focus is on hiring from the outside. There are no annual bonuses. The Product Team, developers and engineers charge forward with new tools and features while the app frequently sees extreme slowness and has pieces that break weekly for 15 minutes to several hours at a time, loading down a stretched-thin Customer Support Team with unmanageable customer cases and angry phone calls. The goal now is to move up-market in terms of new, higher-dollar customers, and many current customers express feeling discarded and their needs unheard. Portions of the app (exporting split tests and triggers; new signup notifications, audience group member counts) haven't worked properly in more than a year, hindering the daily work by customers and necessitating customer support tickets each time the need arises. If we could take two sprints to fix things that are broken, we'd be in much better shape. Little to nothing is being done about current bugs, and the communication is lacking between the Support Team and developers, who seem not to understand the manual process of creating workarounds for customers. The Support Team seems to miss out on every aspect of Emma's culture: Beer: 30, last-minute meetings, outdoor bike rides, pickup ping-pong games and going out to lunch. Their schedules are strict, and they work in shifts. If I want to have lunch with a friend from that team, I have to schedule it with them a week in advance so they can run it past the team lead, who will have them switch shifts with a co-worker to make that lunch time work. If we are late back from lunch by 10 minutes, they must stay an extra 10 minutes that day to make up for it. Sure, this is how it works at many offices; but not for full-time salaried workers like them, and not for anyone else at Emma. The Support Team has its own culture, and it's one of a call center, which isn't conveyed to potential hires in the interviews I've sat in on; instead, the team members in the interview (all interviews consist of a member or two from nearly each team) talk about the company's relaxed culture, without indicating that this team will watch others participate in them, from literally behind a closed glass door. I feel guilty each time I pass their room looking happy. The communication is poor between upper and middle management, and emails can go weeks without being returned. The CEO's stance on projects does not always match what middle management has communicated to their teams. His micro-management slows progress, as work is tweaked to appease one individual's needs. This likely exists at many companies, with managers smiling and nodding at the big boss only to turn around and erase all they've been working on once he passes. This "two steps forward, one step back" seems more obvious at Emma, which still feels like a young company trying to get its act together. Some staffers whose roles include selling paid services (like email template designs and strategy calls) receive 10% commission on each sale. The open office is noisy and does not work for everyone. Germs spread easily, too, and workers fall ill in waves. There are more perks at other local companies, but this is one place you can work without taking a ton home with you at night.

1. Don't expect to get a raise or promoted based on performance. People have worked here for 5+ years and have never had a raise, let alone a review. Promotions are based on who you sing karaoke with and drink beers with after work. Talent has absolutely nothing to do with advancement, and there is zero professional development. 2. Middle management is incompetent. C-levels know this and want it that way. There are two C-levels who oversee the entire operation and have surrounded themselves with director level employees who could not get a lateral job at any other company. The directors are put there because they are yes (wo)men and have no opinions or creative thoughts. They are scared to push back because losing their job means it's back to entry-level or retail as their talent would dictate. They are notorious for stealing subordinate's ideas and parroting them as their own, or reading the latest E-Marketer newsletter, breaking out the thesaurus, and championing their fresh, new rock. 3. You will not find a company that talks more about it's own culture. Only problem is that the turnover during the last 4 years has been about 85% of the staff and no one actually knows what the culture is anymore, unless the culture is quirky "humor" that was fresh in 2004 and hasn't changed since then. During the last year, some of the most talented people who have stepped foot in this building have "left". (I put parentheses around left because no one is ever fired as they all choose to move on. Funny how no one ever gives two weeks though...) They clearly didn't know my following rules to keep your job at Emma: A. Laugh at the owner's tired jokes. Also helps to feign inspiration when needed. B. Understand that you will not be part of the cool clique, so don't try. C. Do not, under any circumstances, form an opinion that challenges the norm. In 4 years we have brought on at least 8 mid-upper management hires because we needed "fresh ideas and new blood". The current management team is the same in 2014 as it was in 2010 as none of the new hires have lasted. Wanting to change is not willing to change. D. Think as you will, but act like your fellow lemming. 4. There is this pervasive idea that Emma will blow up once such and such happens, or so and so starts using us, or we launch X integration. It's particularly harmful for the company because it instills hope where there is none and when those milestones come and nothing changes, it's on to the next useless benchmark. Growth has been 2-4% over the last 5 years. For a tech company, that is abysmal and scary for the future prospects of Emma. 5. The product doesn't work consistently. I get that every tech company has bugs, but our support team looks like they hate life and haven't slept in a month because they deal with the same problems over, and over, and over. Bugs can and have taken over a year to get fixed. I believe Einstein once said something about the definition of insanity... 6. We also love to talk about our raving fan base like it's this diverse, multi-national, tri-gender, young, hip, collection of amazing people. In reality, it's a lot like Hall and Oates fans. Past their prime with no real influence on the current industry. The "designers" that love us, if profiled, would be a 41 year old woman who has photoshop-lite and does the branding and marketing to 350 people for her friend's coffee shop in Portland pro bono.