Joke of a company, lots of poor business practices - Anonymous employee Porifera Employee Review

1.0
22 Oct 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Easy paychecks. Nobody cares what you do most of the time.

Cons

Nobody knows what they're doing. The company has no direction. Leadership is abysmal. When I was there we were re-using SOLIDWORKS 2013 license keys. In 2019. HR is practically non-existant. "HR" is one person, who might just be a reason to go to HR themselves. Also, they claim pay is competitive. That couldn't be further from the truth. I left that place for the same job at a real company, making 3x what they paid me.

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Porifera Response
4y
Thanks for taking the time to review your previous experience with our company. In the past couple of years since your tenure in 2019, we’ve significantly expanded our staff and resources, including a change of software. We continue to operate as a small company and do not have an HR function, nor have we ever staffed that position. We do provide several employee resources for issue resolution though it seems those resources weren’t utilized in this case; we clearly need to better communicate the availability of those resources. A 3x pay increase seems a bit of stretch, but we’re glad the time you spent with us has set you up for the success in your new endeavor and we wish you luck there. -Alyssa

Explore other reviews about Porifera

5.0
22 Dec 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule Good work-life balance Everybody gets an opportunity to voice their opinion to improve team performance

Cons

Long lead times for projects could be improved on.

1.0
29 Oct 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible working hours. Meeting times are optional (well at least for the people who call themselves management). Some of the people are nice.

Cons

Lack of focus on product (whip sawing between projects). Lack of direction and project management. Safety issues that are covered up (example: glycerol left on floor and CEO falling on it but not being reported as "lost time"). Lack of follow thru on commitments - If do decide to run a project, resources can be pulled away from you at moments notice due to whip sawing to the next hot project. Then when you don't meet objectives it is used as a reason to not give a raise. Lack of advancement and pay increases mainly due to the company not growing (Porifera has been around since 2009 and it's still call itself a "start up"). Lack of company growth - Always 1 to 2 years away from "hitting it big". Barely get 1 machine out the door a year. High turnover - Several of the key leaders (aka founders) have left in the last several months. Most people have been there two years or less. Worthless stock options.

3
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Porifera Response
4y
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, we’re glad to share some objective data related to your note. As a small company, we are proud to maintain a flexible work schedule and value the agility that is required to manage multiple projects. Our workflow is professionally managed by our Engineering Project Manager who considerately balances our employee’s time and client needs in a dynamic environment. This high-caliber team has delivered several of our custom-engineered systems to customers (including Global Fortune 500 companies) across the globe over the past year. We follow OSHA guidelines and implement safety standards to minimize risk. However, accidents can and do still happen. While we were lucky that the incident you refer to did not result in an injury, it did result in our implementing enhanced requirements on footwear in the warehouse and spill containments. Porifera continues to be operated by its Co-founder. All of our former staff members who have served in leadership positions have determined their stock options worthy of purchase following their departures. We’re honored to have team members grow their career with us and proud of the growth and upward mobility that our employees have earned, whether or not that may be with us. Finally, we are glad to note that more than 75% of Porifera’s current employees have been working for the company for more than 2 years, with an average service length of 4.6 years. Approximately 20% of our staff have enjoyed over a decade of tenure with us.
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