As the title mentions, it has taken me multiple months after I left the company to be able to write this. I worked there for multiple years in various departments and the mental and emotional trauma (and I do not use that word lightly) is only now beginning to subside.
I previously recommended Paycom as a great place for young people to begin their career and get great experience. As long as you "stayed away from the sun" (I.e. you didn't have to interact with the CEO) it was a great place for those just out of college to get their feet underneath them. However, that has drastically changed over the post-pandemic years and the toxic leadership from the top has continued to trickle down where even lower level jobs have completely unrealistic expectations and leadership creates an environment so stressful that you often feel as though you are working in an ER unit, rather than a software company - payroll is important, but no one is lying with their chest cut open on a table. Issues can be fixed. Every situation is treated as though it is the end of the world, because everyone is constantly worried that if the CEO gets word about it, that he will fire them immediately. And they are not wrong - they only believe that because it has happened time and time again. I have watched too many talented, qualified people be removed from the organization for no other reason than that they said the wrong word in a meeting, or another leader in the organization decided that they were a threat to their position and wanted them out. Summarize it all by saying, no matter where you are in the organization, tread carefully and watch your back.
Beyond that, from a product perspective, it honestly feels like watching the fall of Rome, Paycom has historically had a quality product. That's not to say that they don't fall into the "feature factory" trap, but overall, the products did what they needed to do for the majority of customers and it was relatively easy to use. The CEO has continually gotten more and more involved in the product - there is no trust in the product department. Even when there have been highly competent leaders in the department (and there have been many) they eventually push too hard against one of the CEO's "grand ideas" and end up out of the org. The amount of turnover in the top level of product leadership has led to nothing but turbulence, the absolute obliteration of the culture, lack of clear process, and inconsistency in roles and responsibilities. And because of that, that turbulence and inconsistency is showing up in the product as a lack of usability and lack of quality innovation. Rather than allowing Product time to thoroughly understand and research client needs, the CEO has begun issuing product ideas that solve imaginary problems. Earnings calls have highlighted that Beti has clearly not hit the target in the market. Why? Perhaps because you never asked a customer if Beti was something there was even a desire for. "Gone" - big solution for an imaginary problem that causes more problems than it solved. Why? Because you never asked a customer if it was something they needed. And don't even get me started on the naming of these products. Rather than allowing the Marketing team to DO THEIR JOB, it's an idea that came to the CEO in the middle of the night and that makes no sense for the product. All this to say, if you are looking to join the Product organization here, be ready to be nothing but a Product Owner. You will take requirements from the top, be given an impossible timeline, told by development that they will be taking short cuts in order to get the project out on time (and you will be held responsible for this decision when it inevitably causes future issues), and then you will release it to clients, immediately followed by clients hating it because you were not given the time or resources to truly get to know what they needed in the first place.
