LabRoots reviews

4.1

86% would recommend to a friend

(2 total reviews)

Greg Cruikshank

94% approve of CEO

94% positive business outlook

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2 reviews

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3.0
Jun 5, 2023

Have to take the good with the bad

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company has several advantages worth mentioning. Firstly, there is ample opportunity for career advancement, allowing employees to quickly progress to higher positions. Additionally, the company offers competitive compensation, ensuring good pay for its employees. Moreover, they provide computers/laptops to facilitate work efficiency. What sets this company apart is the exceptional dedication of certain Directors/Managers who go above and beyond to support and train their team members. Furthermore, the company exhibits flexibility and understanding when it comes to accommodating doctor's appointments and personal matters. By communicating with your manager and scheduling appropriately, leaving your desk for a short period is not an issue. Lastly, the holiday schedule is remarkable, granting employees time off for major holidays and an extended period during the holiday season.

Cons

To begin, there are a few notable Directors/Managers who excel in their roles. However, there are others who frequently take time off, proving inaccessible when needed, displaying a delayed response to emails, and lacking respect and professionalism when dealing with clients. Regrettably, the company operates as a family-run business, resulting in a lack of accountability and overlooked responsibilities that ultimately detriment the clients. Questionable practices within the company raise concerns about job stability. The owner's expectations, given the recent layoffs that affected half the company, appear unrealistic. Consequently, the workload has increased while compensation and staff numbers have decreased.

5.0
Aug 9, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Labroots is an honest company with a real product in an expanding market, so it's nice being part of something legitimate that has the potential to be huge and grow along with it. Working remotely is awesome and I don't want to ever go back to an office! It's not for everyone though since some people need in person interaction in their daily lives. There's growth opportunities here but not as rapid as some people like since it's still a small company of 60ppl and an increasing amount of competitors, but I joined at around 35 staff 5 years ago and have had 2 promotions in that time. Given that the market is sometimes dependent on societal trends, (covid, federal budgets) there are ups and down that you'd expect in a company that hasn't hit a gold mine of unlimited money yet. We are growing at a modest pace while we probably could grow quicker and take more risks. There's no HR department but it's a small company and it's very open so you're talking to the owners and directors of each department on day 1 and any concerns are free to be discussed in the public or private chats. I'm not related to the owners of the company, and neither are my team, or marketing or sales. I haven't seen any nepotism yet and the owners are well aware of the consequences of hiring too many family and friends so we are encouraged not to hire our family or friends either. As a entrepreneur type, the work style aligns with my preferences of self-managing, self-starting. We stick to 40 hour average work weeks and we know if we have to do an occasional late night or early start, we can make up for it the next day or week so it's good for a work-life balance. Pay is competitive with national ranges, and bonuses are reasonable on good years. I've gotten a 3-5% increase each year and recognition for being the most productive on the team. From a developer perspective (I was just a developer when I started) it's a good job for getting experience on every part of a successful website and app. We're all full stack developers and get to work on a lot of different technology and third party, paid and free, services. We're adaptable and all have a say in what technologies or approaches to solve a problem with. Unlike some companies, we're not being asked to leave fake reviews to boost the score! I'm leaving this one because I feel the score needs a boost and some reviews here are definitely exaggerating and making the company sound really bad. Unlike some small companies where the CEO or a few key players drives the sales or the management and without them the company would die, Labroots is self sufficient and the skills are distributed among all the staff so if the CEO disappeared or was sick or busy for a month, everything will keep running like normal because we'd all fill in the gaps easily. No one has ever yelled at me or anyone else that I'm aware of. Everyone is diplomatic about their interactions and differences and resolve disputes maturely and logically. There's no hot tempered person with tenure because they've locked themselves into the job or are too good to fire - everyone has to to get along like mature adults.

Cons

Some people need in person interaction. We chat on slack. Some groups do webcam, most do not. For me the con is that voice meetings are still required. I'd prefer text meetings. When times are busy and we need new staff, we don't have time to hold their hand, so we expect everyone to be able to jump in and figure things out themselves. I'm guilty of that in my department, but thankfully developers already have the figure-it-out mentality, so it works for me and the rest of the team is always available to answer questions. I'm always happy to help staff in other departments learn the ropes too, so it's not like you're thrown in the deep end without a life guard - there's life guards there waiting for you to call for help if needed. There's complaints here on glassdoor about this, and I just don't think it's that bad or that hard to figure things out for yourself here. I started this way and I figured it out. Increasing skills are not proactively rewarded. You can't get a certificate then expect a small raise to match your value. We're hired at a rate agreed upon at first, and raises are given if you've proven your worth to the owner. I'd personally like micro raises for every certificate I earn that makes me more valuable at my job and have a visual, step by step path to take for personal growth. Lack of micromanagement means efforts are unseen. It's a double edged sword here where you get a lot of freedom but you could also work your arse off and because no one's micromanaging you they're not aware that you did anymore than your 40 hours and any more than expected, so you might as well stick with your 40 hours, keep a balanced lifestyle, and request help to get more work done. When there's a lot of customers and business, we do work hard to get things done, and over the past 5 years I've done plenty of 60 hour weeks and a few 70 hour weeks, but each time I've made up for it in the following weeks so I don't get burned out. Anything over 40 isn't good when you have kids, so for me that's a con if I don't make it up to the family in the following weeks. If you need exactly 40 per week and can't handle fluctuations, this wouldn't be an ideal work place for you. 80% of the time it's a flat 40 anyway, but the clients are international so we regularly have to support clients in Asia/Europe in their timezone.

Glassdoor has 26 LabRoots reviews submitted anonymously by LabRoots employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if LabRoots is right for you.