LendUp Employee Reviews about "free lunch"

Pros

I am Office/Facilities Manager of both our SF and our Lafayette offices. The SF office is gorgeous, the team is super sharp and really cares about the mission of the company - helping folks in need of a loan, helping people rebuild their credit, and educating folks on personal finance. It's inspiring to work with a team who isn't just out to 'disrupt' a market and make a ton of cash in the startup world of SF - though I have no doubts we're doing just that. The C levels also really DO trust their subordinates, and allow us to take ownership of our projects and positions. Our Lafayette office is full of some of the most warm, welcoming people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They truly embody the 'attitude of gratitude' so often missing in start up culture, and it makes me proud to know they are LendUp's direct representatives to our customers. As a company - benefits are fantastic, both medical/dental/vision and super generous PTO. We have lunch provided every day at both offices, as well as a stocked kitchen of snacks, happy hour every Friday, volunteer events where LendUp employees are able to give back to the community, and regular team building events and outings.

Cons

I truly cannot think of an actual con to LendUp. It IS a start up - so there's naturally a lot of hard work / high productivity expected, but I purposely seek that out as I tend to get bored easily. Not the job for someone who wants a place to just "clock in and clock out."

Pros

Most talented coworkers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Great catered lunches and fun quarterly engagement activities. Nice physical space.

Cons

LendUp looks like an exemplary employer however there is a clear and unmistakable difference between CI associates and the rest of the company. This deep distinction should be regarded with caution as you prepare to enter as a serf, "Rva applicant beware." The company reactive on many levels and passive to known issues regarding promotions, wages and meaningful employee recognition. Action evades the current operation. Lack of action communicates true intentions and priorities. company wide attrition is palpable but regarded as an industry norm. Ambition and pushing past limits by working on the edge of what's possible, is discouraged in CI or exploited depending on your role. This is omni evident in the disjointed bi costal office cultures and lack of free flowing institutional wisdom. value is solely placed on the information flow from SF to RVA although RVA is the face of the company to the customer and the voice of the customer to the company. The cast system is most distinguished and notable in the low and uncompetitive compensation package as you will be allured by organizational potential. The potential is real however the equation is unbalanced in the short and mid term. Compensation is "benchmarked" however not based on technical job title and education nor experience but base upon core job function, which is covert to applicants when accepting the role. This is a call center! You will barely have an opportunity to go to the bathroom and some days you won't. When you do you will feel guilty. CI vs all other operations in SF is modeled after the serfs and the lords. If you are in CI your are built into the lowest cast system. There is minimal regard for customer facing roles despite what may be communicated actions reveal the truth . You are merely a customer service representative no matter what key attributes or skills you walk in the door with. There is a disproportionate lack of focus on personal and professional growth in RVA with a false weight on the importance of customer insights, given in title, but gravely dismissed in practice. The customer facing inequity is evident in advancement opportunities, development opportunities, compensation and significantly unbalanced operational exposure. Advancement is illusive and transparency is reduced to a buzz word which is tossed around but falls significantly short. Information is only shared on a need to know basis everything else is classified. The company is slowly attempting to bridge the chasm but intentionally ignoring the key factors and details of what the embedded gap is.

Pros

The leaders that run the company are some of the smartest people you'll ever meet. Free lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.You'll get to choose make your own path if you can really prove yourself to the company. You can take PTO fairly often.

Cons

At the end of the day, it's a call center job. Pay is extremely low, especially for utilizing some very bright fresh graduates. Favoritism is very apparent in the office as well. The Richmond office and SF office are completely different even though they try very hard to mirror the culture.

Pros

Excellent benefits for a start-up - Health, Dental, Vision, Pet, 401K, MWF Catered Lunches Potential room for start-up growth Incredibly fun and intelligent coworkers Excellent mission and values Fun off-site events and happy hours Amazing HR Rep - You'll never meet a sweeter, more kind, helpful, and caring person.

Cons

Angry Customers -Be prepared for this. It's gonna happen, but don't take it personally. Lay-offs - Really messed up here. 5 weeks prior we were told that cut backs would be made, but we didn't have to worry about people losing their jobs and that it wouldn't come out of nowhere. It came out of nowhere. Not cool. Low Pay - This is to be expected. It is a startup, but eliminating Catered lunches would afford people raises. It's always less expensive to prepare your food at home vs. having it ordered and delivered. It was also stated within the past year that, compensation would be evaluated and improved. The improvement was expanding the job position ladder and shuffling around pay, but not much here really happened. If you want to keep your talent, you will eventually have to pay for it. Do not expect to get rich working here. Take the job for the experience, fellowship, and positive mission. Actions the are contrary to the company's mission and values. - While partnering with a company like Walmart does financially benefit LendUp, it is important to remember, that as a company, Walmart is completely contrary to what LendUp stands for. Many people who work for Walmart are on government assistance because the company refuses to pay them a living wage and decent benefits. The result is a workforce that is forever reliant on Walmart's low prices. Partnering with them, does not say much for the integrity of the mission.

Pros

The free lunch is great but now that they are getting sold and we all got laid off that won't be provided anymore.

Cons

The pay is abysmal. We all live paycheck to paycheck. There is no way to get ahead when you're making poverty wages. McDonalds pays more than LendUp does.

Pros

The people. in my nearly 2 years at Lendup I met the most amazing, genuine, and smart people I have ever encountered in my life and truly all my best friends are people that I met during my time at Lendup. For an early career job, the benefits are good, lunches were cool, more so in idea than practice, and things like offsite's made it feel like a startup.

Cons

Have been wanting to write this for a long time and really didn't even want to invest another minute of emotion or time into this company, but after recent events, feel its necessary to share, so i'll keep it as short as possible: Embarrassing low pay-like fastfood worker low. This was brought up as an area of concern for employees so many times, and the literal answer one time was "lower your expectations" No growth- the classic "you're good, now do more, with no extra pay, appreciation, or chance of promotion" Inconsistent- had 3 managers in less than 2 years, and metrics changed constantly, yet everyone was told they weren't doing enough, only minutes after the manager said "these metrics are new, we aren't even really sure what we are measuring" , but somehow, you still aren't meeting expectations. Really any excuse not to give you the small bonus that comes with a good review. Favoritism- the loudest yes men in the room got promotions over the hardworking, diligent, smart, and capable one's. At times you would think you were in an episode of the twilight zone, wondering how management could be so blind. Ironic thing is, all those people either quit shortly after, or were recently laid off. And the ones that awarded the promotions quit after 6 months or were laid off too. And when i say promotion, I mean an extra $1.50 an hour. Technology here is so broken that it regularly created compliance issues, and droves of angry customers,who honestly had every right to be angry and perceive lendup as no different than any shady payday lender. This made the mission null, and not tangible in any way, gave you no sense of accomplishment or joy doing the work. To top it all off, as I was leaving Lendup, I was accused by upper management of attempting to 'poach' simply because I was ecstatic about a new job opportunity I was pursuing, one with a livable wage. I'll make it as simple as possible- the extortion of cheap labor from desperate college graduates under the guise of 'opportunity' is what is driving people away, not the loyal and hardworking employees that had the foresight to get off a sinking ship for a better opportunity. Oh, and yeah the layoffs, that's really whats driving people away. Sad thing is, now there are going to be about 20 people looking for work, who probably couldn't save much at $15 an hour, but those that mismanaged this whole debacle have the job security, and i'm sure will be getting raises soon. Overall, job poorly done, and its now showing to people outside of the company. Sad to see things take such a sharp downward turn, but honestly can't say i'm surprised.

Pros

Great benefits Free lunches People here are mission driven Managers are motivated to help people improve and do their best Fun events to attend every month or two

Cons

There has been a lot of turnover in the past year

Pros

Awesome work environment and tasty lunch meals from EATCLUB

Cons

This company is fast growing. Not enough office space for new employees.

Pros

Offer free lunch and snacks; get paid on-time, unlimited paid vacation (require manager approval)

Cons

- Business and services had been in survival mode since all the experienced tech guys and founders were gone after the split of the credit card business - Lack of transparence and trust in company culture. No document or whatsoever of driving business requirement to technical requirement and planning. Everything is in ad hoc mode. - Developers are suffering forever for the poor architecture design - There is no real employees appreciation for their good work - Toilet is flooding every other day and there is poop on the floor

Pros

Working at LendUp is an awesome experience! There are so many talented individuals that offer an array of experience and knowledge on various topics. The company mixes the best aspects of the technology and financial sectors and the leaderships makes sure that every employee is equipped with the right tools to perform at their best. Work-life balance follows the standard that you would find at other startups and benefits are well rewarded (free lunch, happy hours, etc.). Most of all, there is an expectation for both personal and professional growth within the company, that you wouldn't necessarily find within larger, more corporate structures. Overall, LendUp is a great place to be!

Cons

As with most startups, growth is a constant driver of the day to day life. If you enjoy an easy pace, larger, structured environment, LendUp isn't for you.