I did not leave because of the work. I left because of the leadership in Member Services.
For a company this size, it is shocking how poorly the front line is treated. Member Services reps are the people speaking directly with members and helping shape the company’s image every single day, yet they are often treated more like peons than professionals. There is little real respect, little recognition, and almost no meaningful investment in their growth.
The leads and supervisors were a major reason people left. They seemed far more focused on metrics, monitoring, and looking busy than actually helping the people doing the frontline work. When agents asked for help in Slack with member questions or system issues, leadership was often slow to respond or did not respond at all. Many times, other team members ended up helping instead of the people whose job it was to lead.
There was also very little emotional intelligence in how the team was managed. Feedback usually came when something was wrong, not when someone was doing well or trying to grow. The environment felt cold, dismissive, and discouraging. It is hard to stay motivated when leadership does the bare minimum and expects frontline staff to carry the weight without real support.
The Director did not seem to listen in any meaningful way either. Input from the front line was acknowledged politely, but it rarely went anywhere. The leadership culture felt full of people telling leadership what they wanted to hear instead of actually advocating for Member Services reps.
What made my decision final was when I received an opportunity with a competitor. I told my supervisor and lead manager, and she said she would check to see whether they could offer me a raise to stay. She never followed up and never came back to me. She also was not willing to be a reference. I still got the new job, and leaving Vida was one of the best decisions I made.
Another thing employees notice is the imbalance in compensation. Vida used to offer commission for frontline roles, then removed it. At the same time, senior leadership roles are posted with very high salaries, while the frontline team that is expected to make Vida look good to members is paid far less and treated as far less important.
Executive leadership needs to stop wondering why turnover is high in Member Services and start looking honestly at the people managing that department. People do not leave bad jobs. They leave bad management. That is exactly what is happening here.
