ExpertVoice Reviews

Pros

Direct communication to leadership/making changes
Friendly and fun work environment
Good people who are trying to make a difference

Advice to Management

The recent year has been humbling for leadership and all employees, luckily this has opened us to being open to exciting changes and really listening to the brands we serve. I LOVE being part of the solution and change, we are growing with very exciting changes happening. Keep listening and trusting the insanely talented people who work here.

Pros

I had a super helpful team and a great learning environment

Pros

The current engineering team in Kirkland has a great manager and team, it has shrunk a bit but the remaining devs are awesome. I worked here for 2 years before the recent layoffs, and was able to find work easily after due to the projects I worked on and mentoring I received. Interesting work and really great colleagues.

Family leave program is excellent. Open PTO and WFH, which people actually use (but don't abuse) at least in the Washington office.

Advice to Management

This is an ideal time to be open to engineering candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.

Pros

-The smartest people I've ever worked with are housed in this company.
-Opportunity to work with some of the world's coolest consumer facing brands.
-ExpertVoice offers a compelling solution to a real problem brands deal with, and it does it in a way no one else in the marketplace can. The people who take advantage of this see serious job satisfaction, because it's interesting work in an ever-changing industry.
-An extremely generous family leave policy (you won't find better in the state), and a great work-life balance (apparently some depts. aren't great at this, but I've never experienced that).
-The ability to be treated like an adult - very little micromanagement takes place here.
-People bring their dogs to work, which means there are cute animals around every day.

Some other things:
You'll find stuff you can find in a lot of places, like food and games and parties. But I love working here because of the people I get to see every day. They make it a wonderful place to be, especially in the current time of turmoil.

Why should you work here? Because you're going to be helping solve an interesting problem, in a cool building, with talented people. And if we can get this figured out, it's going to be a lasting company providing significant value.

Advice to Management

1. Decide who we're going to be, and communicate that to every leader. Be sure that product, sales, and marketing are on the same page.
2. Take a serious introspective look and be humble — if you are no longer able to lead the company to success, please remove yourself and bring in someone who can. If you no longer believe in the vision, please leave and make room for someone who can help execute on that vision.
3. Be more transparent. There is no excuse for company employees to have been spending lavishly on work trips, on team building, on working lunches, and on vendors when the financial situation was so dire. Why did they do this? They did this because they believed things to be in great shape. Subtle comments about needing to put heads down and work harder clearly didn't communicate that we were in trouble. Be direct about where things are.
4. Provide more visibility, and bring back the weekly townhalls and make them more useful. Don't just let people get away with political answers that gloss over what the root of the problem is. The leaders should be in the hot seat right now, and should be providing exact roadmaps to turn things around. Product did a great job with this in executing on the recommendations system so quickly, and communicating it to the company. Marketing needs to do the same thing with the message, sales needs to actually give a real answer about acquiring new clients and stopping the bleeding at churn, and the leadership team needs to enact real change.
5. Hold us, your employees, accountable. Don't put up with people taking advantage of a relaxed work environment. Now is not the time to let them shoot the breeze all day in the break room. Making sure people are executing and doing their jobs isn't micromanaging - it's the only way we're going to turn this around.

Pros

The people here are open and friendly and it provides lots of room for growth. The move on big ideas and take risks. The CEO is an outstanding guy who cares deeply about the smallest of employee here. The location can not be beet in a historic building 30 minutes from the mountains and 15 minutes from the airport. The culture is a joy, they are always doing fun things around the office.

Advice to Management

Don't develop big ideas without involving people outside of your department.

Pros

The business model. The super smart people. The culture of generosity and celebration.

Advice to Management

Keep at it. Celebrate successes. Mine the Tier 2 leadership for direction.

Pros

Open PTO for some departments
Good work/life balance
Some execs and managers seem to care about their teams and employees
Lots of dogs

Advice to Management

Start paying attention to the people who are on the front lines. Listen to your employees. Take responsibility for your decisions and stop punishing people who genuinely want the company to succeed and do their best to be up front about their concerns.

Pros

-Great people, some of the most talented ones I've ever worked with.
-Downtown location, access to lots of restaurants
-Open PTO

Advice to Management

Believe it or not, this review is coming from a non-disgruntled former employee. I still have good, hard-working friends there and I’m writing this review in hopes that things turn around for them. I’m just being honest from what I’ve seen…
-Plan out long-term goals instead of ones that seem good at the moment. There was always a lack or shift of focus, which too many of us felt like we couldn't do our jobs properly.
-Don’t always let the shiny keys distract you, some of them got you into the mess you have today. Pay attention to the non-shiny key people who actually showed up every day and did the work. Just because they may not have talked big doesn’t mean they weren’t good at their jobs. Chances are, they have ideas too. They were just given the wrong leaders.
-Give your employees opportunities to move up. Every single position there deserves a clear pathway to move up. Sit down with each employee and plan out ways for them to move up and succeed.
-When/if layoffs happen, don't lay off 1/3 of your staff without the expectation of a fall out. Who wants to work on a sinking ship? Who would trust the management after that?
-And lastly, please focus on morale. This has been missing a very long time and your employees deserve to be treated right.

Pros

-Downtown office location with parking or the option for a trax pass.
-Open PTO, which is great. But honestly, don't be fooled by this alone because SO many companies now offer this perk and it's becoming a norm. If you're looking for a job, keep looking elsewhere -- you'll find the same benefit.
-Pretty decent health benefits sans vision. So be sure to get your eyes checked and prescriptions renewed before accepting a job offer.
-The opportunity to purchase product from an array of top tier brands at a fair discount. But warning, if your product is shipped to the office (which is a requirement if you purchase from the company website) it could possibly be stolen from your desk or the office manager may misplace it and/or auction your product off to the company for the low price of $1 and pocket the money (not quite sure why/who in leadership would ever approve of that. Maybe they've realized how awful that is and put an end to that by now).
-Anyone is allowed to wear headphones at their desk to drown out the distraction of dogs playing fetch or peeing at your feet and putt-putt golf tournaments.
-Employees have the option to purchase a standup desk with their own money to avoid posture issues.
-Some job positions will require travel for work which could be a pro or con depending on the person.
-Depending on the department, teams are able to enjoy a couple of offsite group activities throughout the year.
-A snack room that usually unstocked with "an unlimited amount of snacks".. which is also a perk of just about 80% of every other tech company, except they stock theirs.
-A company Christmas party.. also a perk of most all companies. What's interesting about the ExpertVoice Christmas party is that it's a company roast. Literally. A roast where your peers get on stage to share a presentation as they publicly shame their coworkers which could potentially be lighthearted but if taken too far, could ruin someones career. Pro or Con? You decide.

Advice to Management

The common thread to just about all of these reviews on glassdoor seem to be this - Look into your management team. Mid-level and upper-level. Start supporting your decisions around REAL metrics and data supplied by your management team to find out why your company is failing, which departments are crucial to the success of your business and where your funds are going.
I also think that the online/digital presence of ExpertVoice doesn't position the company well with clients when pitching HUGE multi-pillared campaigns to potential customers. Get a team of EXPERT online/digital/social marketers who can grow the audience and tell the ExpertVoice story in a way that resonates with people. Find a group of people who can clearly define who ExpertVoice is... Find doers not talkers.

Pros

Work/life balance, pay, ownership of projects, fantastic team leaders, freedom to explore passion projects, best coworkers I've ever had, great lower-level talent, fantastic industry/client experience.

Advice to Management

This really could be a fantastic company to work for. It was at one point. But laying off A LOT of amazing people that really could've helped the company long-term and keeping cheaper/less experienced workers isn't a great plan for extended success. If you're that desperate for cash, something should've been done a long time ago. A lot of people who have been/would've been loyal to the company and hustled for YEARS were let go in favor for some who just collect paychecks. Favoritism runs rampant and that breeds discontent and distrust.

At one point, the whole team was inspired to do great, impassioned work for great clients. Multiple teams truly believed in the mission of the company. I think the company CAN be great again. But the change starts from the top. It needs to. And I understand it takes time for great things to happen. But if you're beholden to investors instead of creating your own destiny and trusting your workforce and making miscalculated knee-jerk decisions then you've already lost. Operate out of confidence in your talent. Not fear.

The remaining people that are there are VERY talented. Want to reenergize them and help them regain their purpose? Utilize their talents that may be hidden. Ask them for guidance what they see on the day-to-day. Ask them what about their work they're passionate about. Ask them what works for clients. Ask them what doesn't. Ask middle management what they see on the ground. Get real about morale and not just about the dollar. Reward and recognize workers for their hustle, don't just leave it up to middle-management.

I truly believe that upper management has some smart and capable people that can lead this company. But it's time to take a look in the mirror and develop self-awareness of the mistakes you're making. I'm indebted to the company for how much I've grown while being there. But it's time to correct your mistakes for the sake of the company, even if that means saying goodbye to some sacred cows.