Pros
1. Flexibility with work schedule. 2. Good benefits and very reasonable insurance. 3. Focus on building a positive culture internally. 4. Ability to get very creative and think outside the box. You can typically create your own schedule (within reason) and work on things that play off your strengths. 5. "On your honor" training opportunities available through online programs. 6. Due to the startup-vibe and fast-paced growth of the company, there are many opportunities for one to make their own path and even create a new role that may not currently exist. 7. Work-life balance is pretty great, although it does vary by role. Pre-sales roles tend to have the most balance, and operations and PS roles have the least - but in general it seems to be greater than other corporations in the same class.
Cons
Anyone who tells you any company has no cons is withholding some truth - even the best have room for improvements. The aim of this review is to both be helpful to potential candidates while also being constructive to internal decision makers. 1. Training: Currently the company is growing so fast that it is difficult to keep up with training new hires, which promotes a sink or swim mentality. Even roles that have existing work instructions typically haven't kept up with the times and those instructions are out of date or no longer relevant due to the ever-changing and growing environment. 2. Interview Process: Hiring process is rigorous and longwinded. Intentions are good, as this in an attempt to appropriately weed out non-culture fits. Unfortunately, sometimes the process can backfire as it may take months, therefore, potentially losing interest from high quality candidates that don't have the option to wait in the wings for a job. 3. Termination process: While fireable offenses are handled in a timely and appropriate manner, non-culture fits and indolent employees tend stick around a long time. WWT will try its best to find you the right seat on the bus - which is a very good concept and what I would consider a "pro" - however, in practice it sometimes leads to poor work ethic sticking around, and being passed around for years before the unfit employee typically decides to leave on their own terms. 4. Salary: While insurance benefits are fantastic - the savings are reflected in a much lower salary than industry averages. WWT also does not put a monetary focus on long term employees salary increases - you're better off leaving and coming back to gain a reasonable bump (which dozens of employees have done). Definitely negotiate a strong salary upfront or risk falling behind the curve. 5. Open Door Policy is Hit or Miss: Open door policy is something the company places into its core values - however this is something that is quite hit or miss depending on the department. Some doors are wide open where others are very difficult to gain access to. 6. Inexperienced upper management (for a large business): One of the best parts about WWT is the fact that a lot of the original executives are still around. The downfall of this, however, is that none of them have ever run a large business. There will need to be a certain point when it might be beneficial to tap into a business leader with tenure at a large organization to step in and help consult on some of the growth issues around processes and expansion - especially in the international realm. 7. Internal User Collaboration Tools & Applications: There is an obsession, especially within the Unified Communications team, in touting whatever applications they deem to be the "latest and greatest" for internal communication and collaboration. This actually hinders progress and productivity as employees constantly have to re-learn how to use new tools, or learn to be well versed in multiple applications that all do similar things. Efficiency comes from mandating tools and processes so that everyone is on an even playing field. 8. Headquarters vs the World: The culture at headquarters is fairly amazing, and could be considered the poster child for the culture desired for the rest of the corporation. Unfortunately its hard for a lot of the remote and non-STL-based employees to understand what makes WWT such a differentiator in certain aspects because a lot of the benefits are HQ-centric. Its also tough to scale our Midwestern culture on a global scale. All in all, the company is currently facing a lot of issues that most small businesses have when transitioning into a much larger corporation. It's still a relatively good place to work, however. Like any fast growing company there are kinks to be worked out, and WWT, for the most part, continues to try and improve and doesn't remain complacent.
