Pros
Opportunity to wear different hats. As a small start up you may be hired in a specific specialist role but you will at some point work with the creative team or marketing or web design/bloggers, etc. If you come with great ideas or suggestions, you will definitely be noticed. The occassional potluck during holidays. For the most part employees are great to work with and help makes the time go by.
Cons
Their pitch when you are interviewing is strong. They got some talented people in HR and leadership and they're great at convincing you this is a thriving company...Don't Buy It. In my interview i addressed the numerous bad glassdoor reviews and they sold me on a change of culture and it didn't take long before I realized that is not the truth. CEO: One positive I will say about Brett is he is a tireless worker. All top level management work at least 10 hours a day and that's because Brett is usually working 11 or more. He's the first one in around 6am and one of the last to leave after 6pm. He travels the world selling the business and you just have to respect the work ethic. The superlatives end there though. He hires smart & talented people but do not allow them to do their job. He will undercut your expertise. He has a great business acumen but he doesn't know everything and when he interferes with other people's processes, it hinders performance of that group. As CEO he obviously has a lot invested in the company but his anger and attitude sets the tone for the culture of the company. When he's in the office; people walk on egg shells. When he's out, people can breathe and at least get some work done. For example, he routinely schedules unproductive meetings while either missing them himself or leaving half way through, leaving people wondering what to do next. As other reviews have said he does scream at employees or in meetings and because of that other employees have done the same. People readily play the blame game to CTA. That's the culture and it starts at the top. Career advancement: I don't know if their ambitious plans for growth are true in their business plan or just something they sell you on to accept the job. During my time there, I didn't see the business grow; in fact, I saw budgets being reduced and employees let go. I did not see any promotions within the Farheap business org. A few customer service reps got small bumps in role but there not farheap employees instead contracted through separate company. Compensation and benefits: Poor at best. If you're new to the work force it's probably good for at least a year then you realize you deserve more. Some reviews have mentioned the pop machine or the occassional donut as a perk, clearly they haven't worked long. Nice gesture but not a perk. Some positions pay well. In my position I was paid less than comparable positions at other companies in Nevada. When you consider you're working 50 plus hour weeks your pay per hour is greatly reduced and it's not as attractive. There is 401k but no company match. I've worked in Nevada for years and my health plan has always been cheaper than what farheap provides. Regarding PTO, prepare to work a few months in the hole but this is common for a lot of Nevada companies. If you're in a specialist role though, you may find it hard to get a day off approved because you are so depended on. Work/Life balance: Poor. As I mentioned many if not all employees work 10 or more hours. If you live far out like I do, with a commute you're spending 12 hours in traffic and work which leaves very little to do afterwards. As a single parent, it's difficult to coordinate things with your kids. You get 5 vacation days and 5 sick days, so if you're eligible to use it, you'll probably use the time on your kids. Senior Management: CEO, strong sales acumen but doesn't trust the people he hires to execute decisions. He has final say on everything and I mean everything. From personnel decisions to marketing plans, everything. There's a lack of trust so at the end of the day creativity is stymied and everything reflects him and what he thinks is best. The marketing people seemed intelligent but also frustrated and stressed by the company. Culture and values: Hard work ethic is a value, a positive one. Employees do work hard and that can't be discounted. However; the culture of fear is very prevalent. Fear of the CEO and his tyranny, Fear of losing your job because many coworkers get let go for different things. Other: Time management software was installed on computers so every second of your day was tracked. If you go to the bathroom for 5 minutes its a flag, if you take a smoke break flag. Every project or task had to be catalogued. Theres no trust in the employees. The system would also take screenshots every few minutes of your monitor. The occassional visit to facebook is harmless, no one is on it there entire shift but with this decision to add this tool it makes you feel guilty. Too many storage options. The company is very microsoft office heavy but theres sharepoint, onenote and other programs. These tools dont always work seamlessly together. You may save a doc on one thing but everyone is searching for it somewhere else. This is more of a microsoft issue however the company could just use one tool to make it easy. QA product better: There was not a team of QA specialists checking product going out customers. I was at the factory and spoke to a lady who was a pseudo QA person but admitted they didn't have a process. So no wonder customers call in with issues with their order. Invest in this process not new software that isn't making the company money. Employees are told to write positive reviews on google and other sites. I can't say for sure that all of the 5 star reviews are from employees but some are. This is not up for debate, I was told to do so as were a few sitting around me. Revolving door of leadership: the most stable position might be customer service rep. I saw numerous Customer Service managers, Social media managers and other marketing people come and go. They obviously got wise quick and left. Many of the same CS reps are still today doing the best they can.
