Pros
If I were to have reviewed Benefitfocus a few years ago prior to the new COO and President (R.A.) I probably would have given Benefitfocus a 5 star review. Back then we had a very strong and fun culture which has all but vanished since they hired R.A. There are still a few perks to working at Benefitfocus, but a lot less than there once was. Some of the perks include: Associate Coworkers - They are some of the brightest and most talented people to work with. There are many friendships that have been formed among the associates at Benefitfocus. Flexible Hours - You are not on a set clock to be on time; so you don't worry if you are a few minutes late coming in. However be prepared to work long hours. Free Sodas, Coffee, & Snacks - There is a soda machine serving Pepsi products (It should be Coke since we are in the south), free Starbucks brand coffee, free fruit on Mondays and free veggies on Wednesdays. Location - Daniel Island is a very beautiful island to work on; just wish the Island had more options for lunch, but it is a short drive to Mt. Pleasant. PTO (paid time off) - We get a generous amount of time off (20 days for up to 5 years of service, 25 days after 5 years, etc). The longer you are at the company the more time you get off; however it's hard to take all of the time off with the responsibilities you have. Food Trucks and Food Service - Since Daniel Island doesn't have all that many restaurants Benefitfocus has arranged different food trucks and catering to come in at lunch for the employees to have options to buy food on campus; this comes in handy because a lot times you don't have time to leave due to work piling up. Work from Home - If needed you are allowed to work from home a couple of days a week; however this is quickly changing and certain departments have told their teams that they can no longer work from home and have to take a PTO day if their child is sick or some other reason that they need to work from home. CEO - Shawn Jenkins was a great CEO before we went public (BNFT) and he was more involved with the company. Sadly I have to disapprove of him now since he seems to be less involved in what is happening with the company and letting others control the direction that Benefitfocus is heading in. There are a few more pros, but more cons now than pros.
Cons
Where to begin with cons? There are just so many! COO/President - I list him as the number 1 con for Benefitfocus because since he came in the world of Benefitfocus culture has went from being the number one place to work in South Carolina to an almost non-existent culture. Instead of coming into work because it was fun, you now come into work so you'll get a check on the 1st and 15th; and you work as hard as you can in fear of being let go, while you surf job boards for a new job just in case. Layoffs and Outsourcing - In the past month I have seen many good people that were outstanding at their jobs be let go due to restructuring of the company. A lot of these jobs have been moved to associates of Value Labs in India and others have become responsibilities of already overloaded associates in the office. Not to mention the work that comes out of the Value Labs office is pretty much crap and has to be fixed by someone in the office once it is here. Communication - There is a huge lack of communication from the HR, Management, and Executive levels to the associates. Everyone is in fear currently due to the layoffs (restructuring) we have witnessed this past month, but no one from HR or management has sent out an email to let everyone know what is going on and everyone fears that they may be next; causing a slide in moral, trust, and productivity. Reorganizations - Benefitfocus is the king when it comes to reorganizing. There was yearly reorganizations, but this past year there has been at least 3 reorgs in the company. Compensation - Salary at Benefitfocus is a lot lower than the national standard while the cost of living in the Charleston are is well above the national average. It's hard to find a place to rent or buy near the office because the pay doesn't equate to the cost of living. Merit Increases - I have watched merit increases decrease over the years at Benefitfocus and this past year they were super low compared to prior years; with some associates actually not even getting a raise. We have busted our butts this past year and got little to show for it. Rewards for hard work - Forget getting a reward for hard work like the free stock or compensation. You may be told by your manager or director that you are doing a fantastic job, but when it comes rewards they are given out to the same people every time; as there is a lot of favoritism shown to those people. Speaking of stock all developers get 100 shares of restricted stock when they are hired, but the rest of the design & engineering team get nothing. Developers are certainly considered more important than other associates by Benefitfocus. PTO Policy - While we receive a generous amount of PTO each year the con to that is that it does not roll over; use it or lose it. The thing is that it is hard to use all of your PTO since you are so busy working on many different projects. Another negative about this policy is that at the end of the year lots of the staff realize they are going to lose their PTO so they take off leaving everyone shorthanded and creating work for those not on PTO to finish out for the 4th release and patches to follow. ***Update - BF has updated their PTO policy because they know they screwed up; so now PTO runs April 1st - March 31st. Patches - There are so many patches between releases; and they are sometimes about as big as the release itself. We have so many issues with our software that it is hard to work on your release items because you are bogged down working on patch fixes up to the release, causing you to rush through release items; so prepare to patch those issues after the release. Work Life Balance - There really is no such thing as a work life balance at Benefitfocus. Everyone works long hours here and there is rarely any downtime; be prepared to work late nights and weekends, even holidays. When you take PTO you dread coming back due to how much work will be waiting on you. Training - With the company moving toward an Agile methodology there has been little to no training of the associates. It is going to be a complete failure if everyone is not trained. Company Sponsored Events - There is no telling how much money the company wastes on events like "One Place". They worry so much about the budget but waste so much money on events for clients and on advertising, while underpaying their associates. I'll stop right here because there are way too many cons to list, but I would just say to a future prospective associate to think long and hard before committing to work for Benefitfocus.
