1. The company touts that its compensation and benefits packages are competitive when they are extremely low for Austin.
2. PTO isn’t separated into buckets, so you’ll have to take from your low bank of two weeks just to run errands during the workday that other companies in the industry will commonly let you use flex time for. Furthermore, I’ve never had a salaried job where tracking my work time was a priority for the manager, as long as the work was done.
3. The pay for creative talent is not sustainable for Austin living. If you try to advocate for pay that honors your skills and the time you put in, you will be guilted for it. Advocating for yourself is usually met with the excuse that “we’re a small team and everyone has to make sacrifices.”
4. I was given health insurance two months after I was told I’d have it when hired. This, like all other concerns, was shrugged off as being because it’s a small company, and because they were “trying to find a better deal.” This is not an excuse. It just means that saving money was put above providing me what was promised.
5. The culture is not progressive, especially for Austin. My manager made disparaging comments and laughed at people who use they/them pronouns when looking at a LinkedIn profile. When I tried to have a conversation about why that’s not okay the subject was abruptly changed. He also said once that he’s had a prejudice against female applicants with long gaps in their employment history due to motherhood, as well as referred to maternity leave as a “vacation” once. I’m unsure if these prejudices have been part of the hiring decisions at Intellibright or not.
6. Expectations of duties are often in flux, which is normal for a small company. However, if you bring up that you need extra time or support to finish a task and do the best work possible, you’ll be made to feel like you aren’t being a team player or working hard enough.
7. You’re critiqued in team meetings for giving either too much detail or not enough, which leaves you confused about what the expectations are and is an ineffective and inappropriate way to give feedback.
8. You are often micromanaged and there seems to be a culture of distrust as to whether or not you’re doing your work, which is odd for the level everyone is at in their careers. It’s unclear what’s trying to be accomplished through this style of management, but it never results in the solutions you need to do the best work for clients.
