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Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. I am sorry to hear that your experience with Spoonflower has taken a turn in the wrong direction. We try to be open and transparent in all we do and yet sometimes our intentions and decisions aren't communicated as clearly as we hope they would be.
I agree with you - 2016 was a tough year. Although we had enjoyed tremendous organic growth for the past 3 - 4 years, our reliance on this kind of growth caused us to miss the boat regarding changes to paid search. In response, at the start of 2016, we added highly talented and experienced people to our marketing team in order to take advantage of digital advertising strategies for which we had been missing out.
Still, we had some catching up to do, and our revenue was just not able to support the ‘lifestyle to which we had become accustomed’. Operating at a loss each month meant we had to dip into our savings to keep going. That kind of financial situation isn’t sustainable for anyone, whether it’s on a personal budget or a company budget.
You are correct in pointing out that we scaled back on some of our wonderful perks. Our fabric benefit went on hiatus for 2 months and this was one of the many difficult and disappointing decisions we made last year. As soon as we started to see small incremental improvements in our financials, we re-instated a modified version of it for the last three months of 2016 and the first three months of 2017. At the same time, the benefits for which we are most proud remained intact and untouched. We continue to pay 100% of the medical premiums for employees and their families and continue to fund employee HSA accounts for 100% of the deductible they are required by law to pay in this kind of health plan.
Indeed, the most painful decision we made last year was to let some of our Spoonflower teammates go. Reductions in force are never easy. There is no perfect way to manage changes of this kind. What was important to us throughout that process was that we managed the communication of these decisions in a way that was compassionate, respectful, discreet and supportive; we truly believe that we met these goals. We helped the employees that were impacted by these decisions make the transition to another role by providing everyone with a generous severance package, even for employees who had been with us for only a few months.
Since then, we have made significant changes to the company's marketing, product, and customer experience strategies. In Operations, improvements in efficiency have had a huge impact on Spoonflower's results. I've heard - from others in addition to you - that we are not the 'same Spoonflower' that we used to be. This is often the case in growing and evolving companies and Spoonflower is no different. We have always been focused on revenue, efficiency and margin. What has changed is that we are doing a better job of being transparent about Spoonflower's goals, results and overall health. Our hope is to share strategies and successes and to collectively learn from things that might not have gone as well as we planned. At the same time, we are as resolute as we have always been in providing meaningful work for our employees and maintaining a robust work environment that is collaborative, egalitarian and respectful.
Since its birth, Spoonflower has experienced many of the advantages and many of challenges that come with successful start-ups. We remain committed to maintaining the virtues and values that are the hallmark of the kind of company we are and the kind of company we want to be. For example:
- In the past 2 months, we have promoted 5 employees from our Operations team into positions in Customer Service, Accounting, Distribution and Human Resources.
- We became a Durham Living Wage employer and raised the pay for all employees below this wage threshold.
- Our 2017 merit raises in a few weeks will focus on employees who demonstrate exceptional performance and take on added responsibilities. Raises will also be made to ensure our commitment to market pay is realized. These are the same compensation strategies we demonstrated in the 2016 merit increase process.
- All of our part-time employees - who are interested and able to - will become full-time in a few weeks. In addition, over the past year, all part-time employees who worked full-time hours over the course of the year were made full-time and offered medical and other Spoonflower benefits.
As we continue to move forward this year, I encourage you to reach out to me, Gart or Allison to express your concerns and let us hear your feedback. Thank you again for writing.
