Time to start looking elsewhere - Senior Product Manager Blackhawk Network Employee Review

The company has gone through multiple life cycles, first was the growth stage when everything was great, people enjoyed their work, there were opportunities for advancement, solid incentives. Then the company started relying more and more on M&A for growth and acquired numerous businesses. While an exciting time, the company did not spend the resources to properly integrate these acquisitions and allowed many of the key talent to exit. This was the second life cycle. The third life cycle was one of continual cost cutting and lay offs to try and make up for the downturn in retail sales resulting from EMV, this only compounded the issues created from the second life cycle. The company became focused on perpetual forecasting and cutting instead of innovation, integration and talent- everything seemed very short-sighted. The fourth life cycle began with Silverlake purchasing the business. While I'm sure the Silverlake team must be a group of very intelligent people, over the course of the last year, they have allowed all of the highest performers to leave for other opportunities and we are now left with a company with numerous issues needing correction and the B and C team trying to execute. The few remaining A people I've spoken with are looking and it is just a matter of time before they leave as well. It is a very tough environment to succeed in. As other people's reviews have suggested, popularity with and loyalty to the CEO and her inner circle are the most important traits for success, but those few people don't make time for anyone other than themselves. The company claims to empower employees but I've never seen it, so we are instead micromanaged by people who I'm not sure really understand the business. It is really sad to see such a previously great company decline like this. Clients are not happy, employees are not happy, it is a toxic situation right now.