Caktus

1.0

23 Aug 2018

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

The location and office space are convenient and nice. There are kittens from a local rescue that are brought in often. The professional development allotment is extremely generous.

Cons

Caktus inconsistently represents and practices its values. Transparency and honesty are in place in some things (for example: salary options and job expectations) but entirely missing in others. For example, there appears to be no business strategy or direction. If these exist, they are not being communicated to the employees. Additionally, collaboration and empathy are touted in some aspects of the job (consensus building, pair programming) but spurned and dissuaded in others. For example, individual employees are not consulted nor listened to by the executive and leadership teams, unless they have personal relationships with the members. This is another issue endemic to Caktus: nepotism. Caktus’ CEO demonstrates favouritism for his friends on a regular basis. Whether it’s making hiring choices, determining career progression, or making retention decisions, if you are the CEO’s friend, you get preference over anyone else, regardless of performance at work or qualifications. Additionally, Caktus leadership demonstrates a preference for male employees. Male employees are listened to, their complaints are acted on, they are hired, more often than female employees. This is true even when female candidates are significantly more qualified and more liked than male candidates; if leadership has a say, the male candidate will get hired instead. Management at Caktus is historically poor. Although there have been a few decent managers, the majority of Caktus management does not demonstrate empathy for its staff, care about or encourage career growth and progression, or compensate and reward employees appropriately. Members of management have communicated to their employees that promotion based on performance and skill is not considered or available, although the formal documented process indicates that growth is the only requirement for promotion. Promotion is achieved through tenure at the company, through persistent complaints and escalation, or by threatening to leave. Career growth at Caktus is not related to performance, skills, or output.

Caktus Response

Thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback. Caktus appreciates all feedback, positive and negative, and takes the time to truly think about how we can use that feedback to make Caktus a better place to work. As an 11-year-old, high-performance company with a clear direction, Caktus’ main focus has been on attracting the best talent, which will ultimately result in superior performance and recognized results. At each stage of the hiring process, we strive to attract strong employees, ensuring the candidates to whom we ultimately extend an offer are the best qualified for the job. Within the company, we continually assess for and promote based on performance, and are proud of the team we have assembled. Historically, women at Caktus have been promoted at an equal or higher rate than men, and the average tenure for women here is equal to or higher than it is for men. In addition, we’ve sponsored and contributed to many events and organizations that promote women and girls in tech and STEM, including PyLadies, DjangoGirls Spokane, and others. We remain proud of our contributions in these areas and welcome diversity in all its forms. We also see professional development as a way to encourage career growth. Caktus has been a leader among small companies in professional development benefits, including providing each employee self-directed professional development and a generous professional development budget. Recently, we strengthened our commitment to career growth by (1) more than doubling the professional development budget, (2) allowing employees to apply additional PD days to the budget, and (3) allowing employees to take time at their discretion to learn new technologies or processes that will help “in the moment” on clients’ projects. Caktus continues to strive to improve transparency in its business strategy and direction. We find ourselves at an exciting juncture as Python continues to grow in popularity. Everyone at Caktus is working openly together to see how we can best align individuals’ career aspirations with these changing market conditions. This has led to more opportunities at Caktus for our employees and a more competitive company, one in which individuals thrive doing the kind of work they enjoy as we seek to serve our clients. We will continue to work hard to improve transparency, promote professional development, fight for women in tech and STEM, and strive to exceed the expectations of both our employees and our clients.

Startup-style agency exhibiting poor management - Anonymous employee Caktus Employee Review

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