Let's start with the hot topic of the day, leadership. For starters, they no longer value their employees. During Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2022 and the broader holiday season, every individual contributor managing customers was incredibly busy catering to their needs. Working nights, weekends, and overtime. Whatever it took to keep customers happy because at Klaviyo we live to delight customers. And finally, when it was all said and done, we were told there would be no bonuses, no gifts, and no winter Fridays. But hey it’s the holidays, shouldn’t we lighten up a little? Surely there must be something leadership would do to reward us for our hard work. Enter a poorly worded end-of-year thank-you email from the senior vice president stipulating that our hard work is appreciated. You can thank us until you're blue in the face, but talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. SHOW US that you appreciate our hard work by giving us SOMETHING to feel appreciated. An email shows the bare minimum level of appreciation. We’re so focused on delighting our customers, that leadership has forgotten about taking care of its own employees. This should be Leadership 101. Absolutely shameful. There is also a serious lack of professionalism in customer success that stems from the top. The SVP often speaks in a negative tone. Her sarcasm and "matter-of-fact" way of speaking are not well received by employees. There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. As someone who recently joined the company, regardless of how knowledgeable you think you are, show some humility, you just got here, you have lots to learn and we don't operate like a Fortune 100 company. We're intelligent people, we see through this. She also brought on senior leaders from her past companies. There's nothing wrong with that but during the first customer success meeting in front of the entire department, her newly hired manager took the meeting from his lazy boy. That's right folks, he couldn't be bothered to get off the couch for this department-wide meeting. I would be embarrassed to take a meeting from my couch for any reason, let alone for a meeting in front of the entire department. Would somebody who took their job seriously, who took the employees and the company seriously, actually do this during their first meeting with employees? But let's put all that aside. Let's say you don't care about gifts or bonuses and can look past the unprofessionalism of leadership. Perhaps most crippling to the individual contributor, is the clear lack of opportunity for growth. While some departments have multiple levels to climb within a role, most in success do not. Once you reach a senior-level role, roles only become available if there is a "business need". When or how that need is established, remains a mystery. This issue falls under the purview of the chief people officer who has not taken steps to address it. Career trajectory is completely unclear and multiple fragmented systems have been rolled out, none of which actually help you progress in a role at Klaviyo. Here’s what their idea of career growth looks like: spend 3 hours setting up goals in Workday and never look at them again. Spend hours filling out spreadsheets of your accomplishments and never address them with your manager. Circulate peer feedback and never look at it during your annual review. Instead of addressing the root of the problem, we partake in the roman circus. Trying to move to another department? Good luck, many positions are gatekept, and moving horizontally is incredibly challenging. If you’ve done it, congratulations, but it’s rare. For whatever reason, the company holds an unabashed admiration for external candidates despite the many wonderful, talented people that already work for the company. Why would they do that you wonder? Your guess is as good as mine. Also if you're thinking of speaking up during a town hall through live chat, think again because anonymous posting is now disabled for town halls. If you hold an opinion that's at odds with leadership, you will have to identify yourself as a dissenter - thank god for Glassdoor! “It never used to be this way” -Sun Tzu
