An amazing place to learn, but the company's promise is hampered by poor execution and communication. - Developer ecobee Employee Review

3.0
15 Mar 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Almost universally, there are a tremendous amount of people who care deeply (maybe a little bit too much ;) ). The recruiting processes brings in brilliant people who are eager to share their knowledge and excited to work at a place where they feel they can make a meaningful impact, and the HR team -- which is miniscule for a 500-person company -- does their best to empower them and help them as much as they can. The work for a developer is particularly exciting. We are enabled to build progressive architectures and use best-in-class technology to create stable, reliable software. If we can make the business case, we can absolutely use the technology (within certain parameters obviously - we're mostly a Java/Python/Go shop, and if you're trying to write a service in Rust you'll have harder time pitching that!) I've been able to learn a lot about building complex, distributed systems from a tremendous amount of people excited to help me learn and grow. We've got amazing, brilliant engineers across the company who are ready and raring to go and build awesome stuff, open to people like me asking (frankly) many stupid questions -- and that's pretty special for an engineering culture, I think! I'm lucky to have a great VP and great manager, people who care about me, my growth and ensure I'm doing the right things the right way. But that's also an issue -- depending on the executive that heads your org chart, you can have a /very/ different experience. This is why I have zero problem recommending people to work at ecobee despite my many concerns -- this is a great place to learn, work with amazing people and level up your engineering skills.

Cons

The company has way too much fiefdom and empire-building; people are not working in lockstep together, but instead some (not all) executives carve out petty little kingdoms for themselves and get into passive-aggressive cold wars squabbling over resourcing and responsibilities. That culture filters down from the top to the bottom, causing issues where we should instead be working together to build a great customer experience but instead squabble over who should be building what and where. Furthermore, some (not all, but a few) departments are quite resistant to changing their broken and ineffective processes and executives/managers frequently sabotage people who are trying to make a meaningful change to the company culture. These are done in subtle, artful ways that ultimately disempower, disenfranchise and demotivate them -- and then they leave, making the company intellectually poorer as a result. I don't think the company has built systems and processes quite yet that provide meaningful constructive feedback and recognition for their hard work. We have peer-nominated awards, but they're not effective in meaningfully showing recognition for hard work people get up to and are just a slide in an all-hands deck. For high performers, it can be frustrating to see low-performers continue to be rewarded in the org. Favouritism is a huge problem at ecobee, historically -- which makes sense for a company that only in the past few years added an HR department. This is changing, slowly and surely, but the dregs of this previous culture are still in positions of power and privilege. One major concern of mine is how penny-wise and pound-foolish ecobee is; the company will throw good money after bad on all sorts of things, but cut small costs here and there on things and act as if they're being wise with their money. I separate people and culture; the people at ecobee are fantastic, but I'm actually pretty skeptical of the culture itself (despite all the shmancy awards). You can tell what a company's culture and values are by who is rewarded -- and, historically, yes-people are rewarded at ecobee over truth-telling high-performers. It's frustrating and disappointing to see. A concrete example of what I mean when discussing the culture: people get defensive when frustrated customers vent their views in app reviews, reddit or other measurements we use. Instead of listening and learning from them, there's a reflexive defensiveness that's really disappointing -- and kind of shows how we're not as customer-focused as we say we are. Lastly, and most disappointingly, the ways teams are treated and given support is uneven. Some teams end up in a vicious micromanagement cycle, spiraling ever-downward in their performance as executives feel the need to meddle in their affairs. Other teams, ones that know how to play the game and appease the execs get off scott-free from the micromanagement meddling cycle.

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ecobee Response
7y
Thanks for your feedback. I’m sorry to hear that your experience at ecobee hasn’t been as great as we expect it to be. I am always committed to not only hearing feedback but taking action to continue to get better. I can assure you that I will work with you and the whole ecobee team to see where we can improve based on your feedback below. Recruitment and performance management at ecobee are areas that we have been improving and continue to have work to do. The ecobee management team regularly hear from employees that we can and should provide more feedback and we are actively exploring ways to do so. We are also exploring ways to make promotions more transparent, but they are always made according to our values, including being Purposeful and Open. I take pride in the incredible team we have built and continue to build through these values. Over the last year, we have provided many ways for employees to share their opinions and feedback, including company engagement surveys, regular 1:1s, management training for current and new managers and regular team town halls. If you would like to connect further, I would be happy to discuss what you’ve written here, or please feel free to reach out to your Manager or our HR team. I very much believe that messengers should not be punished when they deliver news that is unpleasant or hard to hear. What you have shared here is critical insights into how we get better, and ultimately leads me to honestly thank you for sharing this. I have heard you, the ecobee management and executive team has heard you, and we will continue to improve and listen to feedback from all of ecobee. Like many things in life, ecobee continues to be a work in progress, and we are proud of the team and products we have built so far, and this feedback helps us improve even further. Jordan Christensen, VP Technology

Explore other reviews about ecobee

5.0
4 Oct 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Co-headquartered in Toronto and Leeds - very cosmopolitan with a high emphasis on DEI.

Cons

Tech company means people love ALLLLL the software. Information and resources are scattered across numerous platforms, which can be pretty frustrating.

1
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ecobee Response
2y
Hello, thank you for providing this feedback. We are so glad you liked the Toronto HQ & Leeds HQ (we agree, they're pretty great!) and felt the emphasis we put on DEI (this really matters to us). We appreciate your feedback regarding resource management and it is something we will think about going forward. Thanks again for your review and helping to make ecobee great!
5.0
18 Mar 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

ecobee is a great place to work because of the fantastic culture that exists here. Thanks to transparency from our CEO down, there are multiple teams helping support me in my role and hit my goals. Because there are so many intelligent, driven and willing people, we are able to work together to exceed goals and focus on what is important to our shared success. Many suggestions and support can be given because of it is known by everyone what you are working on and striving for. It also allows for frank conversations about what we can't work on because it would create misalignment with our goals. I am excited to be a part of a company that is constantly innovating, helping the planet, and looking to win in the market. Great time to be an ecopeep!

Cons

Too many great ideas and not enough resources to bring them all to life!

1
avatar
ecobee Response
7y
Hello, thank you for taking the time to post your feedback, it is great to hear that you are enjoying your time at ecobee! Our team is dedicated to continually improving and creating a great place to work for all of our employees, so we thank you for your feedback that will allow us to continue to do that.
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