Pros
The environment was great at first. Great coworkers, fun and lively atmosphere, and great managers. Unfortunately, the poor leadership on behalf of Trevor Flannigan makes everything good about this job not worth it.
Cons
There's lots to put here, so I'll just start with the most obvious reasons I left, along with many others. As I'm writing this, 4 people left this week alone ( I had to come back and change it to 4, because shortly after posting 3 another employee quit) with many others communicating to me that their looking for other jobs as well. There is no HR here, which I find extremely unprofessional for a place called "professional chats". It may have been fine at first with only 12 people, but they are now at 50+. Ownership has been approached about this issue and have adamantly stated this is not a priority of theirs at this time. This means if you have any work related problems or concerns, often times with ownership and management practices, you have to talk to the people you have concerns with themselves and there is never any conclusion. For instance, many coworkers of mine have approached Scott Hansen, the CEO, with complaints about Trevor, the COO. But Scott tells you there is nothing he can do and to talk to Trevor himself, which is pointless since Trevor ultimately comes off to his employees like he can do no wrong. Scott doesn't have influence on any day-to-day operations and has ultimately given Trevor full reign on business decisions, which is disappointing to say the least. Trevor's leadership style is simple: he treats you as a child, a subordinate, and replaceable paid labor. One of the core values of Prochats is to "be an innovator", but if you approach Trevor with an idea or question he almost always implies your innovative idea is pointless. Trevor often times sneaks around from room to room to catch people doing something he can chastise them for, or waits until someone shows up a minute late so he can write them up. He creates an environment similar to a prison than a workplace. I once read that good leadership is uplifting those who work for you and pointing out those strengths, but again Trevor fails on every metric. He constantly puts people down and is quick to publicly chastise someone, rather than invest in their professional growth. Trevor has recommended on several occasions implementing a process of checking in your cell phones at the beginning of a shift, almost as if we are in grade school, despite the fact in our handbook and first 2 weeks of training Scott informed us that it was okay as long as we aren't abusing those privileges. This hasn't been implemented yet, but I won't be surprised if it is sooner rather than later. Trevor berated a coworker of mine for being on FB (as they monitor where you go) while she had 4 chats at once. Not only was he mistaken, but he found it appropriate to do this in front of the entire room. Kudos to Scott for finally holding Trevor accountable and having him apologize. Which leads me to the handbook: you might has well throw this away when you're given it because they change it at free will, without notice. Certain employees when approaching Trevor about said changes, specifically with vacation days, were berated and put down to the point of tears before then being bribed with the day in question off, just so they wouldn't tell others. The favoritism here is off the charts. If I had a quarter for everytime an employee was given special privileges others were not, I would be so rich that I could buy professionalchats and fire Trevor myself. Some employees can be late or are given promotions right off the bat, while others who do 2x as much work as others do not have their hardwork recognized and are often scrutinized for any wrong doing. Trevor also likes to ask you who you are texting and will even look over your shoulder to see who you are texting. I was offended that he felt he had the right to treat me as a child, rather than an asset to his company. One quite humorous thing about prochats is how they market their openings. Any indeed ad will imply that call connectors can make $13-17 an hour, but upon hiring you they ONLY pay you $13 an hour. I was told pay increases are based off performance, but despite the fact I did any position then asked and took 4 chats for upwards of 10 hours a day during the early growth periods of prochats, I was never given a pay increase and as far as other employees have mentioned, no one besides those promoted have been given those. If you put in your 2 weeks, which is a COURTESY for your employer, they let you go right then and there regardless which in my opinion is extremely unprofessional and ridiculous. My advice if you plan to quit, just don't show back up rather than giving your 2 week because although you may care about their needs in finding your replacement, they don't care about yours of having 2 weeks pay before a new job.
