But then I started to learn some things about how the hierarchy really works. I didn't have enough authority to help influence decisions that would directly affect my and my peers' work. I was rarely kept up to date on decisions that were made such as updated processes, difficulties with other departments' workflow that directly affected ours, and roll-out processes and dates of said processes. I did bring this up to my manager at the time, and he included me in more meetings. I didn't have much say, but at least I was aware of the impending decisions that were being made.
But then in January of 2020 we got a new CEO. March rolled around and everyone went into lock down "to flatten the curve." This is when bad went to worse.
Employees were no longer held directly accountable. Leadership was not taken seriously. Executives, department managers, and even team leads started to go quiet. No one knew what was going on until it was happening. Any flukes with rolling out a new reporting process or package were hidden and buried until people started to get confused, behind in work, and stressed because they were confused and behind.
We were given 3 surveys in the year and a half of lockdowns that I was employed with them. Each survey allowed employees to share their feedback anonymously. From where I stood, I saw no one was happy. So where is that feedback being taken into consideration?? It's not.
Then in January of 2021, our health, dental, and vision coverage got worse, and we were paying more for it. Mind you -- people are depressed, stuck inside, and oh yea, there's a pandemic going on. Why is our coverage worse, and why is there, all of a sudden, a large number of employees who can no longer afford the therapy they need to cope with this newfound isolation and depression???? It's so backwards.
Employees are NOT being backfilled and the care for customers is not considered when an employee leaves. For example, while my plan was to select one capable person to pass on my 2 most important and highest-paying (to the company of course, not me) clients, this idea was shot down and I was told that they will be given to my replacement. I spoke with the top potential candidates who would be taking my place, and they all had no desire or incentive to take on the position. I don't blame them. But when an employee takes responsibility for my previous 35 clients, THEIR 45 client load will be distributed to reps who already have 45+ clients.
The department is shrinking, reps are getting more work for no extra pay, and they are being told to start a miserable, assembly-line process of creating "good" results for clients. More and more tasks are being moved to employees in Belize and Mexico. This not only implies that jobs are being moved over seas, but it is creating a miserable, repetitive job for employees in the States.
This means that there are now dozens of employees who are no longer working as "experts" in their field. They are being tasked with writing a paragraph of copy for website pages with related keywords. That's pretty much it. I don't think anyone wants to go from learning how to be an expert in their field to a copywriter.
And where does one go from there? My previous position is nearly dissolved. Any projects my replacement could tackle disappeared when our last manager was let go.
No incentive to do more than what we're asked to do, like getting a Google Analytics course completion certification, which wasn't a big ask when we were in the office. But why bother with the extra knowledge when all we're asked to do is write a paragraph at the top of some website pages?
On that same note, it used to be if you completed your client work early, you were tasked with helping someone else with their work if they went on vacation, were sick, etc. Nowadays if someone doesn't get their work done on time for any reason, they'll just be behind. This is because those who could finish early don't. Why finish monthly work early if it means more work? Then it'll breed a bad sense of reliability and expectations among other workers.
New topic: events and culture. I was part of the events and culture committee and there are some hard working people that take the time to consider employees. It has not been easy to put together any virtual event that people might find as "fun." But we did get funding for at least Amazon gift card prizes and even prizes for employee of the month. At the time of my leaving, the employee of the month program has been dissolved because a) the last guy who won (and rightfully deserved it) didn't get his prize for about a month and a half. and b) There is no more funding! Not even for a $10 gift card prize. It wasn't just 4 months ago that I went into the office to get access to the building. There were 3 brand new printers sitting in the reception office. For who? No one is there. And for the record, a co-worker and I built an AMAZING monthly newsletter for the entire marketing department every month for no extra pay. We stopped when the Events Committee no longer got funds for prizes or putting together anything.
FURTHERMORE, a year into this "leadership" position, I (a woman) learned from my peers that I was paid unequally for the same job in comparison to two men who have been at Dealer Spike for either a few months longer than myself, or a half year less than myself. My department manager corrected this as soon as he confirmed what I was told. (Thank you, if you're reading this.) But why did this occur in the first place, especially when the very person who promoted me was a woman?
This would be a good time to pull up their non-discrimination policy, but Dealer Spike has not had a handbook since the new CEO waltzed in.
But my BIGGEST beef with this place is that it seems like LeadVenture's most favorite thing to do is buy companies like they're going out of style. And while inflation is at an all time high, and rent isn't going down any time soon, our merit raise is now set to 3%...after the year of not getting one, of course. While I understand this is a very common percentage for corporate companies to set...we went from working hard and earning possibly up to 10% increase. (Mind you, I got a 9% increase one time, and was STILL paid less than those other men who had the same job I had.) Executives do not care about their employees, especially the employees that get them these "wonderful results" that clients are paying for. The current CEO even said we were getting MORE money by buying these other businesses. Well employees aren't seeing a cent of it and you WONDER why we don't "wake up thinking about how we can better our results for our clients."
I talked with someone who works for a company that LeadVenture bought and she's the ONLY ONE IN HER DEPARTMENT!!! While you "work on getting more employees for that company," at least give her a raise! People bend over backwards for this company and it's just sick to see how they're treated.
Every town hall where the CEO spoke to the company included him patting himself and fellow execs on the back for buying these companies and how great sales and retention rates are...but it seems like customer approval has gone down. Maybe it's because employee morale affects the work they do, which affects the customers. Then the bulk of these meetings are filled with corporate jargon that no one cares about. At the end, they may or may not have time to answer a couple employee questions. They're usually silly questions like, "When are we going back to the office? Why was my annual raise this year significantly less than last year if we're making more money with these businesses you're buying? When are we doing the hybrid office plan you mentioned last year??" You know, silly things like that. When executives and upper management are asked these questions on the spot, they do not have answers and get defensive.
I literally can go on and have a conversation with how frustrated and unhappy I have been with working with this company for the last 2 years, but I think this is enough venting.
