Pros
Vermont Systems USED to be a great company to work for. An ESOP that made employees take ownership in their work, Excellent Health Care Benefits, Semi annual bonus, and a great group of employees that were excited to see what new challenges each day and customer brought.
Cons
After the Acquisition by ClubEssentials/Battery Ventures, VSI went from one of the best places to work to the worst. In the first meetings post acquisition, the new leadership team said they weren't here to change what a great company Vermont Systems already was, because it was already working. That, in retrospect, was the biggest lie that the new leadership told us. Quickly after that meeting, they removed both the current CTO and COO, and then laid off roughly 20 people (Prior to anything COVID related). Recently, they just went through a round of furloughs where people volunteered because they have had enough of ClubEssentials broken promises. Many good employees have quit and taken lateral positions at other companies. That should tell you everything you need to know about the current state of Vermont Systems. Treat your employees like they mean something to your company, not just an expense to the company. Happy Employees translates to happy customers, excellent support, and a better product. You don't need to be well versed in Private Equity to understand that. Benefits package is back under review as the first "offering" was a major failure. For the current employees to keep hearing that they are working hard to get better rates (since Feb), its pathetic that that they haven't done their homework yet on Vermont Systems. Stop telling us that we are "hoping to get them in line with what you had before". We know that we had top of the line benefits that are being taken away, we know that we won't get those back, but stop delaying the inevitable. That's all we've gotten since the acquisition is bad news, so we're ready for it. Salaries are a bare minimum, many people are drastically underpaid and picking up the work from those that have been laid off/furloughed. This has resulted in a toxic work/life balance as we still have pride for our customers that we've built over the last 25 years. That pride can only go so far and people are going to burn out pretty quickly being underpaid and putting in the extra effort. When all is said and done with the removal of the current healthcare plan, 80% out of pocket reimbursements, no bonus information, and removal of wellness incentives, most employees will be losing 20-30% off their bottom line. How do you expect employees to be "ok" with this? At what point will you start to realize that this is going to impact the business?
