Pros
Work from home. Decent training and resources.
Cons
1) Despite being a 1099 independent contractor, you are treated as an entry level employee and monitored to the point of diminishing employee efficiency. This micromanagement is labeled as necessary to ensure quality performance, but it is really just a way to monitor all actions. 2) The illusion of being a tight-knit "work family" who have one anothers' backs is a farse. The directors look out for themselves and if you are insubordinate you will be let go. 3) Despite a large percentage of the cost of the client's package being paid to the company, there is very minimal support. Team leads are utilized as a front line go-to for the assistants to reach out to for help, but anything confided to a team lead goes right to the directors. Negative input that shows an assistant not complying or doing anything that does not follow complete submission will result in termination or passive aggressive treatment. 4) Policy states that you must be available full-time for your clients. However, you will only be paid based on the time you are actually working. Asking about availability adjustments with your clients is forbidden. A true 1099 position would not have this restriction. 5) There is an option for your client to buy our your "contract" from Squared Away, but you are not allowed to bring it up to your client, and the cost is too high for most of them to feasibly be willing to pay. This seems to go against the Directors' and CEO's remarks about how the company is meant to be a means to a permanent position with your client's company and moving on will be celebrated. 6) There are hardly any incentives for assistants or Team Leads who exceed basic performance minimums. You are expected to ensure clients almost always increase or add to their plan, but you still recieve the same percentage of pay for the added time. 7) Team leads have an immense amount of responsibility, which continues to grow, but do not recieve pay equal to their efforts. This is touted as a great honorable position to aspire to, but that is just to make the perceived intrinsic value enough to make up for the minimal pay. 8) The concept of supporting military spouses and the female workforce is wonderful. If they practiced what they preached the company would be phenomenal. However, it falls short and the concern for the people is sorely lacking. There will be a veil of support that will finish as soon as you question authority or dispute any rule or treatment by a client. You are expected to suck it up if a client treats you poorly. You will not be matched thoughtfully with a client who is a good fit for you (unless you're very lucky), but will just be a cog in the machine to pump out more profit. The concern for the employees is just not there. If you are resilient and lucky enough to be paired with a wonderful client you may have a good experience. Just don't expect to be compensated according to the time you will truly spend working and being available.
