Pros
+ I have never believed in a product more than I believe in Podium. If we can execute, the opportunity is amazing. + Customer Success is the best team to join in my opinion. Everyone is willing to help everyone. The CS leaders have your back and are great to get you the resources you need to succeed. Truly one of the greatest places you can be to start your career in customer success. + I thoroughly enjoy the efforts I see to make Podium a unique place. They bring in great thought leaders to regularly speak to the company, there are diversity and inclusion initiatives that are PAID, there are regular trainings for management to be better at managing... it's truly a place where people can thrive. + We are on an exciting trajectory. We've hired some exceptional new executives that I truly believe can take Podium to the next level. It's an exciting rocketship to be a part of.
Cons
- I feel bad for the sales team all the time. They are never relieved of pressure it seems. Expected to come in early, stay late. They never sleep. The EVP of sales once outwardly expressed to the company that he was purposfully skipping out on family time over New Years to work toward that EOY number. Admireable, but I feel burned out for them. - Product is a bit of a mess right now. Lots of turnover and what feels like a lack of resources. In CS, we are the punching bag for everything that goes wrong in the product and that has been steadily increasing over the last six months and continues to rise. I'm hopful we can get to where things used to be, but it's in a rough place right now. - COVID was rough and continues to be. We made it through without significant layoffs, but it was Normandy for CS with maintaining customers and there was some verbial recognition for those efforts from our executives, but nothing more. That continues. CS is an afterthought from our executives. Sales receives all the glory and recognition. We rarely hear from our executives and when we do, it's usually when we've hit a hiccup. And when that happens, Eric comes in guns blazing without asking for much context. - WFH has killed a great deal of the magic Podium used to have. In-office perks of gone away for the most part. No gym, though I understand why it's closed for safety (except to Eric and Dennis who still use it to work out), no summer or holiday parties (again, I get why, but that budget wasn't reallocated anywhere else), swag drops have stopped (replaced with the Podium store which is nice, but the quality of items has diminished), there has been very minimal effort in giving employees extra resources to WFH (maybe I'm needy here, but I do get jealous hearing about all the other companies providing stipends, meal credits, and other things and we get in trouble for taking the chair from our used-to-be desk). Energy drinks are gone from the office now and so are the cereals and stocked fridges. There are little snacks though like nuts, so I get the vibe it's not a safety thing? I could be off here, but again, the budget for all of that hasn't been allocated anywhere else employee related that I can see. So much has been taken away and very little effort has been seen or felt to replace any of it. - Our CEO misses in rallying and inspiring the company for me. He has a good heart and good intent for the most part, but hasn't impressed me as a great leader. Sales struggled a bit in January 2021 and Eric sent out a video to the company that, to me, felt like being lectured to by a school teacher for low grades - and I'm not even in sales. He has had some good moments, but I long for a leader who inspires me instead of telling the company again and again to simply work harder. Who, before offering correction, asks sincere questions to front line employees to fully understand what's happening. Maybe I'm a snowflake and need to thicken my skin, but I wouldn't go to war for Eric because I don't feel like he would for me. I feel like he would for Sales, but not for CS unless it was a $100k+ client.