There are some noticeable gaps present in the company. I noticed at times that there was a disconnect between the needs of the front-line employees vs the goals and expectations of upper management. Keep in mind that my entire tenure was during the pandemic when we were ~100% virtual, but beyond that the workload of balancing rotational duties and project work was difficult to navigate in my first six months. I completed my training right as the busy season started to pick up, so the opportunity to acclimate myself to the role altogether was cut short despite my manager's intention to not overwhelm me. My manager did all they could, but at the end of the day, the amount of work itself required trade-offs with my time to engage with the demands of the Emerging Leaders Program. Within my role, I've seen multiple cases of burnout throughout the different departments I interacted with (especially within the Implementation department), which was surprising after having Paylocity’s Best Places to Work review set my expectation of the work environment. Despite this accolade, Paylocity is not an exception to the level of turnover in the industry and in the economy under the current climate.
In my position specifically, the evaluation process was confusing as much as it was counterproductive. In my reviews, I received feedback that I could use to improve in soft skills, however, a lot of the expectations coming into ELA left a lot open-ended for me to understand how to implement these expectations. I remembered in my exit interview, I mentioned a suggestion to host a training session around business etiquette as this is a program for Early Career college graduates, and I ended up getting dismissed by my HR Business Partner. Towards the end of my tenure, I realized that the level of transparency from the ELP was not where it needed to be. However, the environment was still open enough to where managers and directors wanted honest feedback. To be frank, it was at my five-month mark when I began to wonder whether the directors wanted all the Emerging Leader Associates to complete the program assuming everyone’s career interest was consistent during the duration of the two years.
For the company to function and grow at the track it’s currently on, the teams under the Operations units are spread out too thin in order to meet deadlines and client expectations imposed by a strong salesforce. The problem with this is that the service providers in operations work in circumstances outside of their control and suffer burnout throughout the year. Pair that with the project work, and it creates a situation where someone would habitually work 12-hour days only to get by. And when I say get by, I mean making it through the week just to not meet the high standards of the program.
