8y
Although I respect your opinions, there is one point I have to disagree with. First, to demean the company leadership I think is not only inappropriate but its inaccurate. Our leaders know the business very well and more importantly they know their role, contribution to the company, and value they offer our clients. I also think you should consider the implication of this claim and how it not only impacts prospective employees, which is Glassdoor’s purpose, but how it could impact IPs ability to grow and acquire new business when being viewed by prospective new customers. This could do harm to everyone at IP including yourself.
To the rest of your points, I will say that I feel you’re underestimating the various efforts and changes that are taking place to improve. And with that, some of these points have been front and center in company-wide meetings and there has been an open door with anyone at IP to discuss these things (or even get involved).
Regarding disorganization, I know we’re not disorganized in many of the considerable aspects of how we operate. But the level of detail in how we manage tasks/assignments has been a pain-point for many of our designers & developers. Through the last 60-days there has been diligence in researching new platforms to better manage task assignments and the goal is to have this out by end of the quarter. In addition, there will be many improved Scrum/Agile practices surrounding this. This will also create a stronger system of accountability as well since Scrum/Agile practices create more mutual accountability between all parties on a project. Admittedly this was a 2017 goal which went unfulfilled but it is something which currently has the utmost attention. It is just as much a point of frustration for me as it is for you.
As for over-hiring, I don’t think there has been any excuses. Going back to 2015, we did increase our team and unfortunately we saw a decrease in business in 2016 and early 2017 that resulted in several layoffs. We have since stabilized, have been performing as a company really well, and have made changes to our model which allows us to prevent hiring unless we have significant confidence in our ability to sustain the role.
As part of our updates to our 2018 employee handbook which was introduced in January, there are new processes and procedures for both disciplinary action and employee reviews. This further addresses the points of accountability and scrutiny. The new employee review process requires not only reviews from superiors and teammates but also subordinates if applicable.
I certainly appreciate your opinions. There is no such thing as a perfect company but the one thing that we have been committed to is continued change and advancement to the benefit of everyone at Inverse Paradox. In addition to my above points, as of this year we have significantly expanded many employee benefits and have put several sustainable initiatives in place to better consider our company’s social and environmental impacts.
Finally, I would strongly encourage you to share your questions and concerns with myself or even the company as a whole. When we hold our regular company meetings, many of these exact issues are put on the floor for open discussion and comment. And all too often the subjects are met with silence. No one is penalized in any way for sharing constructive criticism or even more valuably, offering potential solutions and ideas to problems to benefit everyone. Being a small business, we can only improve if there is mindful, active and positive involvement from everyone.
Thank You,
Neil