Building the plane while you fly it - Anonymous employee Ark Financial Employee Review

2.0
Aug 10, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Management, and the owner in particular, dream big which sounds great at first. If you are comfortable with a fast pace and changing priorities, policies, and processes, you will be ok here. Likewise, if you like working hard perpetually, you may also be ok here. If you like working in an office (as opposed to working from home), you will like that aspect of the culture.

Cons

If you are not comfortable with a "building the plane while we fly it" atmosphere, you will find it difficult to be successful at Ark. They have an everything-is-urgent-all-the-time culture. If you value a genuine work/life balance, this is not the best place for you. Management speaks well of culture and employees, but in truth they treat employees as a resource to be used up. The parental leave policy makes it clear they do not want working mothers on the team. If you do not share the conservative Christian values of the owner, it will likely feel difficult to fit in on a cultural level.

Explore other reviews about Ark Financial

5.0
Jul 14, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Growing firm with a lot of upside in the future. Great atmosphere and awesome concept.

Cons

Definitely not a place you can be a silent quitter at. Clients can ask for a lot and due dates are set in stone.

5.0
Jun 24, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Growing company with lots of opportunity. As long as I'm willing to put in the effort, I have a lot of influence over the impact I have on the business. - Comp is structured so that I get direct benefit from the things I do, which is glorious. - Mission driven. Really. I've not worked anywhere else where the mission, vision, and values that are stated by the firm are actually given importance and reached for by leadership. - Opportunities for impact on clients we serve are enormous. I also have the opportunity to deeply impact the organization itself. - Collaborative environment. Any time I've needed help, all I've had to do is ask for help and it's given without condescension.

Cons

- The work we do is hard. It requires massive amounts of expertise in a LOT of different fields. - Tools to do the work are lacking. A lot of this is that our model is quite unique, so we're kind of building the plane as we fly it. There's a significant amount of time and energy being expended to build the tools we need, but we still need a lot more to be as efficient as we really need to be. - While help is provided when I ask for it, sometimes we just don't have the resources to get that help quickly. As a result, I sometimes burn a lot of time creating something that we should already have. The chaos of a growing firm is lessening as more work is done on tools and resources, but it can still be a matter of massive frustration.

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