Pros
•micromanagement kept to a minimum • semi- flexible schedule • unlimited PTO • paid sick leave • great team of coworkers and overall camaraderie • Highly driven manager who served as a good leader overall for our team at the time and was truly gifted at motivating people • diverse and inclusive work environment •culturally sensitive and lots of extracurricular activities like yoga, meditation, and clubs for different cultures like people of color or LGBTQA+ community which was refreshing •CEO very generous and genuinely cares for employees and provided great holiday bonuses, gifts, and parties, and other ways of saying thank you •Enjoyable work with a sense of purpose •Relatively low-stress most of the time with good work-life balance •Fair pay in comparison to some companies.
Cons
•Manager overseeing the coaches at the time was driven and a good leader overall, such as wanting to use our individual talents and strengths to build our team/provide work-life balance, but eventually saw through all of that and realized that it was less than altruistic and seemed much more about her own ego than the team's efforts. We were literally told to "do something" for her birthday, that was the tell all (eye roll). There was a certain coldness there beneath the feigned warmth. • Accomplishments and achievements rarely acknowledged but any minor mistake of disagreement was heavily chastised to an unreasonable and unacceptable level, leading one to feel unnecessarily stressed and anxious •Some coaches were fake. Would smile in your face but complain about you behind your back • Chained to Slack. I literally spent more time on Slack than doing my actual job and were reprimanded if did not respond on Slack quickly enough. Furthermore, there were too many channels, most of which were not relevant to the coaches. It was a distraction from doing things that could have actually kept the coaching team intact and successful. • Coaches routinely asked for our ideas and opinions but rarely were any of our suggestions taken •Coaches routinely blamed for lack of engagement with app despite many known flaws and bugs within the app's design that frustrated users to no avail, ultimately leading to the near-total dismissal of the coaching team who were all very intelligent, bright people with great ideas that were simply ignored • For a tech company, it was strange that almost any technical changes were proposed were always shot down as "too much" or "not possible" •No 401 K match despite being told it was in the works •No formal short or long term disability policy, though there were paid absences and maternity leave to my knowledge •Little opportunity for growth beyond coaching role or advancement despite taking on many tasks that did not involve coaching whatsoever and despite being told we could move up quickly being that it was a startup. Manager unwilling to vouch for my talents as I was not one of the favorites. •Coaches were treated differently (and possibly paid differently I suspect) based solely on their area of study. Although all of us held college degrees, it was clear that only RDs were respected as professionals and asked to participate in public-facing opportunities such as social media and blog posts in lieu of actual work or life experience, leaving other, non-RD coaches feeling ostracized and belittled. One Drop definitely had a culture of assigning value to people based solely on the number of letters behind their name ahead of anything else, including character. RDs only were only ever asked to write articles, do social media posts, etc, making other coaches feel like a secret or embarrassment to the company. •Disconnect between higher level management and the coaching team. Higher level rarely sought our advice or feedback on anything, despite our direct engagement with members. •Higher level management insisted on low carb diet and keto meal ideas for everyone, not allowing for any flexibility for the average person who is not going to follow such a strict diet, setting the app and its members up for failure.