Pros
Note that this review was on Glassdoor for a year before being removed for no reason. This is simply a re-post of that same review (slightly edited to remove direct reference to anyone other than the owner/CEO) as it is still pertinent. - The projects are interesting, but poorly vetted for feasibility. - Great work/life balance, although change is in the wind. - For the most part, great people. A few I didn't care for, but nothing time wouldn't inevitably correct. - As someone mentioned to me, this is the both best and worst place they've worked.
Cons
- Lack of an SME. This is a traffic company without a single subject matter expert on staff. What does that tell you? - Impressive turnover. In just 3 years, over 40 people have left this company of about 50. This isn't counting those who left during the previous 2 years of the company's existence. Every personal secretary to the owner has quit or been fired. One who had been with the company since the start was yelled at by RC so badly, she left in tears. The entire marketing department has been sacked 3 times, with round 4 coming very soon. R&D has seen the largest turnover rate, with 2 not even lasting a month. In-house legal counsel was fired. Members of upper management were forced out. The list goes on and on. This place is a lawsuit waiting to happen. - Ever changing project scope and timelines. Those that try to do their jobs using standard engineering practices are simply considered to be slackers and not producing quickly enough - after all, no hardware or software project should take more than 6 months to complete, right? - Part-time IT department. Who needs infrastructure! Simply hire a 30 hour a month incompetent rent-an-IT company to maintain a pair of vastly overloaded servers and hope for the best. Cheap. - Part-time HR department. The company contracts with an outside HR service for 30 hours a month of HR services. The HR service owner is far too intimately involved in Rhythm to have an unbiased employee-centric view. - Bonus-structured hiring. This seems to be something new from RC. Several recent hires have been on a bonus structure. Start off with a low base salary, and then dangle the carrot with promises of bonuses if impossible goals are met within impossible timelines. This is a win-win for RC - he can simply get rid of the employee if it looks like they may actually reach the goals and then keep their resulting work (yay, at-will employment), or get a very good, low cost employee if they can't quite reach the goal, but are close. Either way, bonuses are avoided. - Hire a Napoléon wanna be. The new management has the right ideas but the wrong approach. The employees aren't quite the bunch of slackers RC says they are. Most of the employees really do want standard processes in place, but threatening them with 12 hour days, 6 days a week and probable firings if unreasonable timelines aren't met isn't the way to do it. While your goal of canning the upper management is moving as planned, don't forget - RC will can you too as soon as your job is done. RC runs the company, and will always run the company - as I'm sure you are well aware; try buying another MacBook Pro if you forgot that fact. But, hey, maybe you can tank this company too before you get fired. - Ego. This company is all about RC's ego. Management spends the bulk of its time managing up to RC instead of managing down to ensure well designed, well tested, quality products that meet current (and future) traffic industry needs. This is a company that could be very good if RC didn't put his faith in the wrong people that feed him the crap he wants to hear instead of letting people with vast experience and ability do what they are very good at. - Pay disparity. New hires with significantly less experience, and zero traffic knowledge brought on at 30% - 60% higher wages than existing staff, with no intent to equalize that ridiculous difference. - Keep looking over your shoulder. Not a day went by that I didn't figure it would be my last. There is no comfort here that your job is secure. The turnover rate has been extremely high, and much of it is based on the whim of the owner. If he doesn't like you, he will make your employment truly miserable until you finally leave. - Profit sharing. Each year, 15% of profit (historically accrual based) is shared with the employees. Until 2014, this was never an issue - profit levels were small and the bonus was always about the same, with variance from employee to employee based on who the owner liked at the time. But 2014 was a banner year, with employees looking forward to a major (epic) bonus. However, the structure was suddenly changed to a cash basis, with year-end emphasis on cash reduction to lessen tax burden, and a last minute removal of significant cash brought the profit sharing bonus back to the level of previous years to avoid giving back to the employees what they were promised at time of hire. Enjoy your telepresence robot, RC. I hope it keeps you warm at night. A tacky, classless, greedy move. - Shilling. A couple of the 4 and 5 star reviews on Glassdoor are honest assessments, and I agree with them entirely, but the rest are simply shills. If you are seriously considering working here, please take the 4 and 5 star reviews with a huge grain of salt. The bulk of the low ratings are very true, but a few are utter trash. The 75% CEO rating is horribly inflated - 15% is far more accurate based on the grumblings within the company.
