Pros
- The people I got to work with on the day to day were great. A very supportive group who put a lot of pride into their work. - The Fit Small Business (one of TA’s sites) ethos is to produce the best answers to small business questions. This meant focusing on expertise and providing the best, most accurate content on the internet. I could always feel good about what I was producing and could take pride in the site I was apart of because of these high standards. - Unlimited PTO
Cons
- Compensation does not scale with contribution: Over the course of three years, during which time my work increased exponentially, I received a $5,000 raise. The workload and expectations were constantly growing, but there was never an alignment between increased expectations and pay. At each of my reviews, the objectives of my job would shift, I would work to meet the new standards, but pay did not follow until I reached my 2.5 year anniversary. There are also no cost of living raises. - ActivTrak: In the last few months, ActivTrack, a tracking software, was added to our computers. I understand that remote jobs need a system to ensure accountability, however, the actual implementation of the software has been scrupulous micromanagement. The software shows every site you visit, document you type in, application you open, and search you make. People were punished for listening to podcasts, music, and visiting any non-work-related sites. The software also categorized time as “productive” and “unproductive”, and you are expected to have 40 hours of productive time each week. For writers, this meant 40 hours of active writing, as meetings and much of the research we did would not get tracked as productive. Many were working 10 to 12 hour days just to get the system to track 8 productive hours. - Power distance: The TA conglomerate has grown from a single site with just about 100 employees to over 10 sites comprised of more than 500 employees in a very short time. Rather than giving these newly acquired sites space to run themselves, as they know their own workflows and workforce best, the CEO and a small circle of people oversee all the sites and make all decisions for them. This includes implementing all strategy changes, approving (or more often denying) all compensation increases, deciding when and why to fire people, deciding where investments should go, etc — the people who do the actual work have no say in anything that happens to them and changes happen quickly with little explanation. As someone who never got to have any interface with the decision makers of TA, I felt powerless to advocate for myself or to give input. Even when I tried to go through my manager to get more information about changes, he could never tell me anything because he too was in the dark. When I would submit anonymous questions to our all company meetings, they were ignored. When I tried to find office hours where I could make myself a familiar face, I was told they did not exist. At the end of the day, this alienation from the people that ultimately controlled what our jobs looked like “on the ground” and how much we got paid created a very toxic work environment where everyone felt extremely frustrated and angry with the direction of the company, but had no ability to do anything about it. - On a more personal note, I ultimately was fired from TA without receiving any warning or ability to advocate for myself — after three years of honest, hard work. The people I work with directly had no idea about the decision and were unable to do anything about it. The ground that TA employees walk on is very shaky with ever-changing standards and demands. I was extremely hurt by the way that my final day happened and have been sick about it, but I believe it was not a result of my work (which I had only been told was stellar up that point), but rather the powers that be making brash, unfounded decisions.
