AbsenceSoft Reviews

Poor Leadership/Toxic Culture Let me tell you a story, about a team... At one point the company had leaders that were respected and trusted. Non-Execs had proven themselves in leading initiatives that provided value to the customers and the company. Senior Leaders made smart and informed decisions. At some point egos at the senior level took over and the backstabbing began. Over time the qualified individuals were ignored while empty promises and "Shiny new things" were placed ahead of fixing the existing product. Eventually the capable leaders were let go in the first of two layoffs, leaving only the egomaniacs and inexperienced to lead. The toxic culture started when a Politician was hired instead of a manager. The Politician did what politicians do, make empty promises and eventually deliver absolutely nothing. The failure to produce should have tipped off upper management, but instead closed door meetings occurred and more lies were told. Blame was placed on the people that weren't despicable enough to play those games. Eventually each days focus was spent on trying not to get stabbed in the back or thrown under the bus. Each area of the company was affected by this in one way or another. Quality suffered, implementations of new clients stalled and revenue was lost. The individuals responsible for the decline of the company are still there, propped up only by investors money. It's only a matter of time before the doors are shut.

It used to be a nice place to work - a small group of people who were passionate about building something great. Yes, there were challenges. Not enough people, not enough money, long hours, NO process whatsoever; the usual startup woes. Results definitely mattered, but customers, employees, our product; these things mattered, too. People stuck around through hard times because there was hope that once we had proper funding, we truly could fix our challenges and be the great company we had the potential to become. Then we got a new investor, and there was so much hope and promise! AbsenceSoft 2.0! But quickly, it became all about growth, money and numbers. Lots of hiring, lots of spending, a new office, a video arcade - not for the employees but because it was cool and hip and looked good on Twitter. Popular perks like flexibility to work from home were phased out. We got a bro culture. It became not about building something great, but hitting our numbers and having the right image. Today a significant portion of the company was laid off. We were invited to a meeting and told that our positions were eliminated. Ok, this happens. Overgrowth happens, and it needs to be corrected. It’s not fun but it’s the responsible thing to do and the right way to run a business. But the way that the meeting was handled was, to me, disgusting. We were told that, unfortunately, this meeting was not to provide support; we could get that later from our friends. HR was there, but largely silent. It was a 12 minute angry rant about the CEO’s reckless spending and how that led to this, a couple of questions, and then we were told we’d be mailed stuff on Monday and the meeting was abruptly ended. It was awful. People were upset, crying, totally blindsided by this with very little support or compassion. Welcome to AbsenceSoft 3.0.