Would give 0 stars if possible - Sales Raconteur Employee Review

Thanks for taking the time to review your time at Raconteur. It is always difficult to read negative reviews, but I would like to respond to some of the points raised. I absolutely acknowledge that the past six months have been tricky at Raconteur and I and the rest of the leadership team take responsibility for that. For some context, we entered 2023 off the back of a number of years of strong revenue and profit growth. We have gone from 45 to 85 people in a relatively short time. That has, perhaps unsurprisingly, caused a few challenges which, when combined with a difficult economic landscape that has proved testing for some more junior staff, means we have had to exit some people from the business. We don’t take such decisions lightly and are aware of how frustrating and difficult it is for those affected, as well as the impact it can have on the business in terms of time, cost and culture. I am working with sales leaders to ensure this is fixed. We are also making some significant changes to the business that we believe will help correct some of the broader challenges and set us up for the next phase of growth. This has also meant we’ve had to look at a number of roles in the business but we believe the changes we are making will put us on a better footing for long-term growth. This has been difficult, but our employee engagement score, as measured anonymously via Peakon, remains at 83% – a score above 70 is considered excellent. There are a couple of other points I would like to respond to. The first is around office attendance. Across the wider business we offer a lot of flexibility, with our people only asked to come in one day a week (Thursdays) and even this is not mandatory if there is a reason someone can’t be in on a particular week. We also offer the opportunity to work abroad for four weeks of the year and we are incredibly flexible around people’s personal needs. Recently, we have asked the sales division to be in the office three days a week because we felt that some members of the team needed more help and support from managers and would benefit from being in an office and learning from more experienced team members. We understand this may not be for everyone, but we feel it is necessary to ensure our salespeople have the skills and understanding they need to succeed. On the point around toxicity and respect, I simply don’t recognise this characterisation of Raconteur. I and the leadership team have worked hard to create a supportive and caring work environment. And even when we have to make difficult decisions, we take the utmost care and try to do everything we can to set people up for future success. I won’t lie and pretend that people who work at Raconteur don’t drink alcohol. Many staff like to mingle in the pub, particularly after work on Thursdays, and I accept this might be difficult and less inclusive for a non-drinker. Some of our social events, such as our Christmas party, do involve alcohol, but we also run events, such as our LGBTQ+ film night or games night, yoga mornings etc that do not. Nevertheless, I will take your feedback on board and work with our Head of Talent and Inclusion to ensure all social events are inclusive. To close, I’m sorry that your experience at Raconteur was not a good one, but we wish you all the best moving forwards. Will