Pros
The benefits are great - health insurance is covered 100% for EE's, and the family premiums are incredibly low. Un-Capped PTO is a fantastic option to the standard accrued-time method....assuming you are in a position to actually be able to utilize. However, knowing that you have the time (should you need to take it) removes one less stressor. The company has become a "remote-first" environment, so if you are in one of the groups that is allowed to WFH 100% of the time, there is that. The office in downtown SA is brilliant, and the company provides parking in the garage across the street. The people. The hardest part of leaving Searchspring, was leaving my team, and the people who were extensions to my immediate team. The number of genuinely kind, brilliant, caring people is incredible! Depending to whom you report, the levels of support, encouragement and knowledge-transfer vary, but can be powerful. There is a great deal of trust given to EE's, which, depending on the person, can galvanize positive outlooks and increase productivity. There are, of course, those who fully take advantage; leaving others to pick up the slack, or play janitor. They have some fantastic Slack channels to give EE's the ability to interact in fun (and sometimes cheeky) ways. I adored the people with whom I worked! And lessons I learned (either self-guided or mentored) will serve me well in any future opportunities. I so wanted this review to be 5 stars all around.
Cons
I believe it is important to note: my heart is absolutely shattered by the reasons I chose to leave, but I hold no malice for anyone within the company. Work-Life balance was virtually non-existent for the (almost) 4 years I was with the company. I had hoped my knowledge and efforts would afford me the opportunity for professional growth but when I was passed-over for a promotion (an outside candidate was hired), I took it in stride, and assumed (incorrectly) that my workload would lessen. The CEO, who is a really nice guy, continues to make decisions that negatively impact the company, and since acquisition by PSG, I have watched the decimation of entire teams, along with the death of what was once a thriving culture of engagement and participation. Our monthly All-Hands meetings were once filled with faces of people who participated, asked questions and laughed...it is now a wasteland of black screens (turned-off cameras), silence, and disingenuous compliments based off of flash-cards (because names aren't known). There seems to be a tone-deafness when it comes to the wages earners, and in order to make money that allows you to pay bills and have a little left over to enjoy life, you need to be considered a leader, or live in another country. However, to be considered a leader, to have a seat at the table, requires that you report directly to ELT, and is not based on your knowledge or contributions. If you aren't learning, earning, or "connected", what reason is there to stay? Leadership took the unified stance that culture is built from the bottom-up, which meant that they had no interest in driving culture. And, in my experience, people will never buy into a vision, if they can't buy into the leader. There are pay gaps and disparities that reflect a lack of equitable consideration, meanwhile, spend goes unchecked, and there are double-standards that exist to benefit the highest paid people within the organization, yet citing budget constraints for employees who are seeking wages that are more inline with market rates. PSG had a missed opportunity when they purchased our company, and chose to mislead all of the organization when they called an All-Hands and told us that our former CEO had left "voluntarily" to pursue other opportunities. In that moment, they set the tone for whomever they decided to appoint as "their people" in positions Senior or Executive-Level positions. Trust was immediately compromised, and I don't believe it will be re-established anytime soon (assuming they choose not to course-correct).