Pros
My colleagues were hands down my favorite part of working at FiscalNote. Although FN was 100% remote, many voluntarily chose to come into the DC office 1-2 times per week because people just really enjoyed spending time together. For the most part everyone was fun, friendly, and open to engaging with you. Even some of the c-suite took the time to get to actually get to know people and would make an effort to wander the halls and stop by in-house happy hours for a drink or two. They felt very approachable and involved. There were also plenty of promotion opportunities for those early in their careers and FN very clearly prioritized internal promotions over external hires.
Cons
FiscalNote was in cost-cutting mode for all of 2023 and then was extremely confused why no one hit their goals after significant decreases to product quality and commercial support (I believe less than 50% of sellers hit their goal last year). FN also introduced a "winners circle" program for sellers last year, despite the budget cuts which many felt was a misuse of precious funds. There were about 5 spots reserved for top performers across each department, though you had to hit 100% goal to qualify. There were some teams that had to give seats away because less than 5 people in the entire department made it to goal. Goals were extremely difficult to achieve. Entire teams were laid off simultaneously, in addition to frequent individual firings and attrition. In 2023, an entire account management team for a particular segment was fired. There were no contingency plans in place to continue managing the accounts this team was responsible for so renewal dates came and went without action and clients were lost left and right. Another entire product line, which had only been acquired two years previously, was laid off and the product itself was essentially deprecated. Layoffs of both new hires and long-term employees were common right before earnings calls so that leadership could announce they had hit various EBIDTA-related goals through cost savings alone. Critical positions were not backfilled across commercial and product teams, so reductions to the product quality and to the customer service experience were very apparent. Clients complained and renewed at shockingly lower rates than the historical average - to no one's surprise. The promotion & pay raise schedule was reduced from twice per year to once per year and cost of living adjustments no longer exist. Raises are now tied to performance only, which would be somewhat fine if the goals were even close to being achievable. Employees are extremely frustrated and do not feel like they are being listened to, so feelings of apathy and sarcasm were very prevalent whenever employees gathered together in person.