Real Reviews

Pros

- good location
- flexible
- work hard and it's recognized

Cons

- management's eyes were off the ball. Contract employees were pillaging the place while they focused on stemming the flow.

Advice to Senior Management

- focus in before you focus out, but do it fast

Pros

Some smart people, good location, generous vacation policy, decent benefits, okay work/life balance, opportunites for learning and management training skills for those who want it.

Cons

Real has suffered from a lack of focus for years and an unwillingness to either shut down or adequately support marginal business units. They have been saying this will change this year, but the jury is still out. HR does not work for/with employees and pays no attention to effects of management changes on employee performance or retention.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more up front with employees about the challenges and opportunities ahead. Communicate the plan to ramp down the businesses that will not be a key part of the srategy going forward and how that will effect some employees.

Pros

Plenty of opportunity to move up and a great environment to learn. Work is fast paced and constantly changing.

Cons

Work to the bone. The environments are so poorly thought out they might as well be held together with duck tape and bailing wire. Very little communication from management. It’s a lot like working on a film set. It’s really pretty from the outside but there’s nothing behind the building facades.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more with your teams. Focus more on forward facing improvements to existing products. Help encourage a better work life balance.

Pros

-Good market to be in
-Good team members

Cons

-Lack of direction
-Constant downsizing
-Redundant layers of management
-No investment/discussions on Employee growth
-Still figuring out its product positioning
-Old technologies

Advice to Senior Management

Look at the latest tech developments around. Looks like you are reactive than being proactive.

Pros

Free Pop, bowling alley, decent hardware.

Cons

The benefits are worse than the industry average. Previously the stock options were a big plus but are mostly worthless now.

Advice to Senior Management

They should learn what mass attrition symbolizes. They should look to improve morale and benefits. They should respect the technical staffs need for a private life.

Pros

There is a cafe inside the building that provides free coffee all day. Free beverages on every floor. You will get a warm welcome when you first arive, and for about the first month of working there. There are certain support people within the structure of the company that are extremely helpful, knowledgeable and reliable. At first it felt like a great place to work, all kinds of really nice "benefits". A work out room, showers, locker room, 2 bowling lanes for use after hours, ping pong tables and fusbal table in the cafe area, for full time employees there is tons of available learning materials for expanding your knowledge in your area of expertise. There is a very diverse set of people working here that bring in all kinds of new ideas.

Cons

Upper management does not take the time to listen to the people that are in the thick of it every day. There is hostility, however subtle, on a farely regular basis. When the issues with direct management are brought up to HR, there seems to be a conspriacy to protect certain members of management. At times it feels very "clique-y" and I have felt at multiple times like I was right back in high school with all of the games that come along with that. Management has come right out and said that instead of confronting a problem they would rather take the easy way out, since they are burdened with "so many issues at the moment". Disciplinary actions are not taken when they should be when people are not doing their job to the best of their potential. I have seen the exact oposite of that as well, when someone is doing a great job, but management doesn't like the person on a personal level, disciplinary actions ensue when there is no need for them. I've seen managers that lead with a personal agenda rather than a professional management style. There is training in place that teaches and guides leads and managers on how to be a good leader, but once out of the training session, I see very little of it put into action.

Advice to Senior Management

On the whole, I think the mid level management team needs to take a step back and remember what it means to be a good manager. I can tell that for the most part the mangement has history as a great management team, but that has since changed. I am not sure if it's from stress or outside influences, but the management style needs an overhaul. It seems to have become a game of cover your own, rather than a leadership and learning environment. Bob Kimball said that he had received feedback that walking the halls of Real was like walking through an insurance office, quiet and solumn. I have to agree with that and also feel that this could be changed by management taking the time to get involved with their direct reports on a more professional level. Managers need to understand what the daily work they are managing is, they should understand what are the frustrations and high points of their subordinates' jobs. Management should be working to eleviate those frustrations, not add to them. We are also seeing that good people are being let go because their contracts are at an end, but ineffective FTEs are being kept around without disciplinary actions taking place.

Pros

- Great location in downtown Seattle. Close to the public market.
- Work-life balance is generally good
- OK on benefit/salary

Cons

- People who are buddies of some upper management seem to get unjustified raises and promotions. I have seen very qualified employees who never get promotions and very little raises. As a result, these quality employees left the company and moved on.
- Too much office politics. You don't want to be on the wrong side of these managers and their buddies for whatever the reason or you're doomed. It was exhausting and not easy to focus on 'the real work' 100% of the time.

Advice to Senior Management

Hiring and promoting incompetent buddies results in unneccesary office politics, low morale, corruption, and bad products. Give rewards to the right people who deserve them.

Pros

*Work like balance generally good. You are allowed to work from home.
*Benefits are better than many companies I have worked at

Cons

*Layoffs seemingly constant
*Very little communication from upper level management
*Unclear marketing and management goals

Advice to Senior Management

If you need to go to a skeleton crew, do all the layoffs at once rather then multiple times a year. It brings morale and productivity down. Allow your talented employees to innovate in their designs and marketing strategies as well as in product development.

Pros

There are some smart people at Real, the location is good and some of the divisions of the company have good projects.

Cons

The company is very unstable, compensation is spotty, recognition is not evenly distributed, it's extremely difficult to get anything done.

Advice to Senior Management

Morale is pretty low, I think that's universally known. I think it's critical to take some steps to take care of the rank and file. Executive compensation seems pretty high but individual contributors in the trenches are not usually recognized or satisfied.

Pros

The park across the street is rather nice and has a good view of the mountains. It's close to the public market.

Cons

Employee morale is low. You'll spend more time in meetings that actually working. Management is promising change, but it's slow.

Advice to Senior Management

We recently had a management shakeup. But fixing a moribund corporate culture is a tall task for anyone, not sure if it's working.