Pros
- Great coworkers - Successful company with great reputation in the Treasure Valley - Helps you refine your soft skills - Will hire you with no experience as long as you show mettle during the interview process - High turnover creates job security The people at Clearwater are great. You work with people who are, by and large, very motivated, intelligent and willing to help you develop the skills you are wishing to refine. The culture is one that promotes collaboration and face-to-face interaction, and my favorite part of work at Clearwater was conversing and working with great friends every day. The company is very successful. In Client Services (CS) and Sales, you can see the money pouring in via client implementations because CW doesn't really have a true competitor that offers the breadth of investment accounting services that CW's product does. This reputation of success was very useful for me during interviews for jobs outside of the company. Working in CS can give you great opportunities to interact with higher-ups at other companies. It is not uncommon for newly hired analysts to be working with executive level employees for clients they are implementing or during client calls/on-sites. It's a good job to vault you to another company that pays better and values its employees. Most of the best and brightest move on (especially lately), as CW has failed to keep up with its tech counterparts in the Treasure Valley who value those with a strong background in finance/accounting much higher.
Cons
- Low pay & poor benefits - High stress depending on team/role - Longer hours (particularly during month ends) - Most knowledge doesn't translate to other jobs - Environment of secrecy and closed door meetings - Working in CS often feels like working in a call center Although the people at CW are great, the culture is starting to become a toxic one as word has gotten out about former employees leaving and getting 20, 25 or even up to 50 percent raises at other companies in the valley. When new hires start at CW (particularly in CS), they come onto teams where many of their teammates will vocally express their displeasure with how they've been treated on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, they'll likely come onto teams where about half of their teammates are actively looking for jobs at other companies. Pay starts out at a competitive figure, but after a few yearly "compensation reviews" where your boss's boss's boss gives you what amounts to be an inflationary raise every November/December, the frustration mounts. CW preaches the "Agile Manifesto," yet treats its employees to an extremely rigid, annual compensation review, where you're given a number (your new salary) slightly above your old number, and get sold on why the raise is fantastic and that you should be so grateful to be even getting one. You then are not given the opportunity to negotiate, and essentially get told "See you next year!" with a slap on the back. If you get a title promotion during the middle of the year, your compensation will not rise until the yearly compensation review. CW gives you the great "opportunity" to take on more responsibility, work longer hours and bring greater value to the company, without the company giving you a dime more. The 4% matching on 401k is nice, but beyond that the benefits are underwhelming. There are essentially no perks, unless you consider coffee, water and an expensive vending machine as perks (CW does). You might get one lunch every month or two. Working in Client Services is often stressful. You have high-level accounting and treasury professionals at large companies depending on you to meet strict deadlines. CW's clients typically will work long hours and will expect you to do the same. Depending on your team, you may get shamed for not working 10+ hours a day, or not eating lunch at your desk. Some clients are relentless during month ends (when they're closing their accounting books), and will basically ask for round-the-clock support. It's not uncommon to have 25-50 emails, and 1-2 hour phone calls from one client all in the same day - all while you're trying to support dozens of other clients. The constant turnover has created an environment where everyone is looking over their shoulder. Division and department leads seemingly spend all day pulling random people into secret meetings to prepare for the latest departure. Higher-ups are willing to move you at the drop of a hat to backfill someone else's position, and you really can't say no unless you'd like to quit. At a recent all-company meeting, the founders' response to a question about high turnover was simply that they all used to work for other companies.
