Bazaarvoice Reviews

Pros

Environment and culture are exceptional. High-energy, professional, yet laid back. Compensation is fair, and diligent, hard work is rewarded financially. Clear-spoken communication from leadership, and leadership that cares (legitimately) about success of the people. Great food and healthy options in the kitchens, with frequent lunches catered in. Unlimited vacation is always a plus. For the record, although it is high-energy, this is definitely the calmest place I've ever worked. Oddly enough, it is also the most energetic, and the most positive.

Cons

(1) Constant change with the usual spin from management that "this time things will be different." What would be refreshing is an acknowledgement that this is just how life is in a company that grows so fast...we make some mistakes, try new things, and learn as we go. This includes quarterly large-scale territory changes. (2) For Market Development, there has been a lot of repeated account shifting and timely response from leadership over comp structure changes lags. On the plus side, at least MD leadership communicates about this stuff and seems to hold the rest of the organization responsible. (3) The company is shedding a lot of experienced talent as it grows, so there could be a stronger talent retention program in place so the recruiters weren't always going berserk.

Advice to Senior Management

Authentic honesty trumps positive spin when it comes to change. We know you work hard at it, but try to implement a scalable structure that will endure for more than a quarter. Sales leadership needs to deliver on its committed timetable to MD leadership - huge disconnect here at the moment. Initiate a company-wide talent retention program.

Pros

-Vacation policy
-the people
-what we've built so far
- no micro-management (yet)
- nice office
- free snacks
-benefits

Cons

-Sr. leadership is throwing a lot of shiny objects (i.e. high priced GM's and other Execs) at our problems, and its only adding to the issues. more layers is not the answer.
-Execs are COMPLETELY out of touch with what's going on right now. Feels like a mass exodus is about to happen.
-The wonderful culture is all but gone and no one seems to care anymore
-Caring about employees seems to be all but gone- we've lost some super talented people recently that helped build this company. They've either been pushed out or unceremoniously been let go.
-A recent high level Exec hire has completely poisoned the culture and seen almost their entire team leave voluntarily, and nothing has been done about it. Not good for morale.
-Too many changes all the time, both in sales and product. Nothing ever has time to bake. Knee jerk reactions to everything is the norm here.
-Still a feeling of a 'boy's club' amongst certain leaders, esp in sales. If you're not in it...good luck getting moved up.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up guys - what was once a special place has deteriorated into a very sad state of affairs, and no one is convinced you all care anymore. Its as if the IPO happened, you made your money and that is it. This was once a place of pride to work at, people were clamoring to get it. Now people can't wait to get out, everyone is looking for jobs. The reason being, all of our friends who have left have told us how it is on the other side - more pay, less stress and being cared about by leadership. There's still time to turn things around but I fear its too late, too many great people are already gone. How long are you going to keep ignoring the problems?

Pros

* Easy to get time off
* Located in a nice area of Austin
* Some really nice and fun co-workers
* Strong client base

Cons

* Letting too many good people go - why?
* Bringing in some questionable leadership - what they will do to the culture remains to be seen
* Lots of strong sales directors are looking to leave. Many sales people are unhappy.
* Overall company culture has eroded and is no longer is what it used to be
* Less than 20% of sales directors make their number yet they want to hire more sales people?
* Sales used to be fun - not so much anymore - now we seem to be building a sales culture of stress and fear. Who wants to work for a sales team where very few make quota and you live in fear? Not good for the long haul.
* Too many changes. Every quarter there are leadership changes, territory changes, quota changes and we are running out of runway.
* This is the wrong time to start a sales career here. My advice is to wait 6-12 months and see what happens. If top people are still leaving you will have your answer.

Advice to Senior Management

All young companies go through periods of change but it's how senior leadership manages and leads through the change that determines the course of the company. Right now the general feeling is a lack of confidence in the leadership. Many people have a wait and see attitude and are weary of what will happen. Each day as I drive the long 40 minutes to work I can feel my stress start to build and I begin to dread the day. I am not the only one. We would all like to see Brett more engaged in driving his idea of culture - right now it feels like he has left it up to his mgmt team and most people feel that is a big mistake. Don't ruin what was off to a very strong start.

Pros

vacation policy
killer co-workers
social media experience
start-up experience
worked on some cool problems and built some cool tools

Cons

wow, what happened? used to be so great. lots of support from management and peers, but now it feels cut throat. some really nice people are leaving or got laid off but many of the do-nothings are still there. a few people got rich off the IPO but it was a small group. no desire from senior mgmt to spread the wealth around. too many cliques. if you're not in one then you should watch your back. problems in product are not fixed and not sure they will be. signing off to greener pastures. hope the ship rights itself. it truly is too bad, so sad.

Advice to Senior Management

open the door to your office, walk through it, and keep walking down the halls. actually talk one on one with some of people that do the work day in and day out. you might be surprised at how smart of some of them are. if you collect management feedback, actually do something about it. look in the mirror, practice what you preach, UGC holds all the answers.

Pros

Smart co-workers
Challenging, interesting problems to work on
Impressive clients
Relaxed environment
Past success
Bright future
Growth opportunities for the ambitious, but requires self-promotion
Some really inspiring recent executive hires...CFO and CTO stand out
Vacation policy
Management admits mistakes

Cons

Some recent exec and senior management hires are poisonous to the culture
Too much re-orging
Definition of culture, beyond the stated seven pillars, is still too organic. Would love to see some real innovation in the area of corporate culture
Biz-speak is a little too prevalent
Some culture of fear--people are afraid of losing jobs for poor performance but they are not sure what good/poor performance looks like

Advice to Senior Management

Good past emphasis on culture, but we really need some leadership to make BV a special mid-sized company to work for going forward
Hold senior execs accountable for culture and hire them carefully, there have been too many disappointments in this regard and that's a morale killer
Fail fast is good, but we also need time for change to take hold. Re-org with care
Focus on employee retention
Some culture issues aside we have a strong leadership team in place

Pros

Vacation policy
Smart, motivated co-workers
Food and celebration
Pay for some roles is good
CEO genuinely cares about the company and people (although seems to be making some mistakes here lately)

Cons

Lot of favoritism, people that suck up to senior management get good treatment
Always a crazy push at end of quarter to get to an unreachable goal
Whole company relies on harder work and hope vs. actually fixing processes and other issues
Amount of poorly thought out and executed change is mind blowing, makes senior management look like they are grasping at things and unsure what to do
Many managers without enough experience or knowledge to be doing what they are doing
Most people are not sure where the company is headed and what the real strategy is
Lot of good people leaving or being forced to leave and some strange new senior hires lately
Product is nothing special anymore, need some innovative things fast
Senior management seems arrogant about themselves and the business
Most of the stock in very few hands so a growing feeling of haves vs. have nots

Advice to Senior Management

Lot of us really counting on you all to fix the things above before we become just another company doing average things.

Pros

- Autonomy in my role
- Work hours flexibility/time off
- Work with really smart people who typically take ownership for their roles

Cons

- Difficult to grow your career
- Tout the ability to have fierce conversations, when in fact you usually see negative consequences if you do
- Highly political that requires a lot of skillful navigation

Pros

- Interesting challenges
- Smart Colleagues
- Fun environment
- Lots of personal growth
- Lots of room for company growth and success

Cons

- Because of the rapid growth, there's lots of change
- Lack of clear structures and processes

Advice to Senior Management

- Keep sharing lots of info about the successes and challenges facing the company - setting the context energizes everyone

Pros

Bazaarvoice hires extremely talented individuals in every department. In 2.5 years, I ended up with colleagues that I considered friends and knew I could go to any of them if we had an issue. The people who had been with the company longer were particularly open to that type of collaboration without regard to any chain of command.
Everyone works hard and knows when to pull together, especially to meet goals.
The management and leadership training offered is really great. It shows that the company does want to invest in the advancement of its employees.
If you work hard, you can be yourself and crack wise, make jokes, and generally find a way to enjoy your day.

Cons

Long hours.
You need to assert your own work life balance.
Unlimited vacation policy isn't the best way to go - just give people 15 or 20 PTO days to take away the ambiguity and make sure some people actually take it at all.
The free snacks and food are a perk, but almost everyone gains weight unless they have extreme self control.
The company does re org quite a bit and it can be confusing to figure out who is in charge of what.

Advice to Senior Management

Most of the senior leadership wants to keep the company informed and on the same page.
Be careful with new management hires and make sure they still uphold the culture and values.

Pros

the office culture and people are incredible (friendly, smart, insert other positive adjectives here)
lenient vacation policy and office hours
you are given the flexibility to get your job done in a way that works best for you
management is as open as possible about changes, performance, etc
free in-office massages monthly (!!)
competitive pay and benefits
it's a great environment to work in--a mix of the best things from corporate world and a start-up

Cons

sometimes people forget to make coffee
frequent changes throughout the organization--but that's to be expected in a growing company
the parking garage is an incomprehensible maze