FWI used to be great!
It had an amazing people first culture, great people, a snazzy product, and plenty of perks to make it a desirable workplace to anyone.
But then Vista came along, buying a majority of the company, and basically pulled all kinds of tricks to ensure they get their ROI in what I would assume is a short term goal.
There have been a multitude of reg flags in the past year, and hopefully this will help potential employees make a sound decision.
November 2019:
Imagine this. You've just started your day and you're sitting in a meeting, talking to a client, or even on PTO.
If you're one of the many who were in the office, you get an email from leadership to come to a conference room for a mandatory meeting. While you're in there, IT is disabling your entire access to everything - Laptop, emails, slack, the whole shebang. You're told you're no longer needed, on the spot - A whole room of people, fired, effective immediately. No information hand off, and you only have a very short time to collect your belongings. You are escorted from the building.
If you weren't in the office, you receive an email saying you are no longer employed and that you'll be sent a box with your possessions, and told to mail your laptop back to them. (To FWI's credit, they did give everyone a severance package, offered resume services, and helped people find new work.)
Nearly 40 people were laid off.
April 2020:
FWI decides it cannot weather the storm that is COVID with all of its employees... The CARES Act comes into play, and FWI decides that the government should cover the costs. A round of furloughs are inevitable. 70 odd people this time. Half of these are told a 90 day furlough, the others, until Jan 1st, 2021.
If you were in the latter, this was essentially a termination of your employment - A seemingly easy way for FWI to let you go without having to say the words.
The 90 day furloughs - It felt like a lucky dip to be invited back. I know people who were pushed out to more than 150 days before even being considered to be invited back to work.
Some of the furloughed employees were even the ones who were the best voted by other colleagues over the course of a year. Fancy furloughing the people who received the most amount of commendation by their peers.
In a town hall immediately before the furloughs were announced, the CEO told everyone that Vista was not a bank account who could just bail out employees. Perhaps if Vista were to sacrifice a fraction of their billions, employee loyalty, and the people first culture might still hold true.
Questionable & concerning instances over 2019-2020:
- An entire HR team has left and a new team is in place.
- People are promoted to new roles, and then fired a month or so later.
- People who have been at the company for several years are randomly made redundant. Likely due to the following below.
- Overhearing leadership talk about their objective to primarily hire college grads so they can transition to a cheaper workforce.
- Making everyone take a pay cut at the start of COVID and cancelling all matching 401k payments.
- Returning furloughed employees were also forced to take a pay cut.
- Furloughed employees were completely cut off from any useful company information and updates - No town halls, check-ups on your wellbeing, nothing to make you feel like you were a part of the company. FWI made no real efforts to accommodate, communicate or empathize with furloughed employees.
- Exit interviews for furloughed employees consist of a 3 question survey. No call from your leadership team, no gratification for the work you've done for the company. You're sent a box to send your laptop back to them.
- FWI acquired a software company (with "alternative money") headquartered in the UK, bringing on 40 more international employees while more than 50% of furloughed employees are left hanging in limbo.
- FWI fires a CFO in April 2020 in order to save money, and hires a new CFO 3 months later.
- A CSO is hired while there are still people on furlough.
- Departments have been told to create detailed videos/documentation on how to do their job. I'll let you use your imagination on why this is a thing.
Some more cons:
- Some departments are on track for burn-out due to leadership choosing not to bring back furloughed employees to balance the work-life load.
- Some positions weren't backfilled after a furloughed employee voluntarily left.
- There doesn't seem to be much opportunity to upskill and obtain third party certifications or training.
- Vista seems to be playing the finite game - Responding reactively to the ups and downs rather than finding a way to overcome all challenges and prolong the longevity of the company.
- Leadership will spin bad news or questionable company decisions in a way which leave you wondering if what they're saying is actually true.
FWI used to be a transparent, people first, empathetic culture.
Sadly, FWI does not radiate a great culture these days, but likes to pretend they still have it in order to attract younger, cheaper talent.
The one thing that Vista is good at - Killing culture and morale.
