Fake "family" - Anonymous employee Alto-Shaam Employee Review

1.0
24 Dec 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Alto-Shaam loves to refer to the company as a “family”. They push this narrative heavily in all their marketing and communications. Everyone hit on this talking point during the interview process, which was a little creepy and felt fake. That should have been a red flag, but they offered a big salary increase, big bonus, big title, and annual profit sharing. These were the pros that enticed me to leave a secure job that I enjoyed very much, however, it was not nearly enough to make up for all the cons associated with a poor work/life balance.

Cons

As a new member of this dysfunctional “family” you will go through a gauntlet of five or more reviews in the first year. If your performance is not acceptable for any reason at this time or any time in the future, you will be kicked out of the “family” without warning. A revolving door is a good description of the recruiting process with frequent terminations and new hires. People that have been here a while are used as examples of how much everyone likes to work here, but the truth is that employee retention is a big problem. Due to constant personnel changes, many people are new in their positions, and there are many open positions. Unpaid overtime for salary employees is the norm to meet the heavy work load, arbitrary deadlines, unrealistic goals, and constantly changing priorities. A lot of the cons are driven by the owner who insists on making or approving every decision. As a classic Theory X leader he regularly motivates people in his special loud and threatening way. This chaotic environment and fear culture results in high stress, low morale, burn-out, turnover, and numerous quality issues for customers. If you are looking at working here do not be fooled by all the “family” references. Your “family” membership is contingent at all times. Benefits start after 3 months on the 1st of the following month. That can be up to 4 months depending on your start date. Consider the cost of Cobra for your previous health insurance when negotiating a starting bonus. There is NO severance pay if you are let go unless you can negotiate that in your offer. It is very difficult to catch up if you fall behind, like when you take a vacation or get sick. For doing quality work you will be rewarded with an endlessly growing amount of even more work until the quality of your work/life suffers. On the other hand, you will never be bored!

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Alto-Shaam Response
7y
Thank you for your feedback. We value your perspective and hope the following information provides context around the ways in which we make continuous improvements with our employees in mind: We strongly believe that work is just one aspect of our employees’ lives. Recently, we have established an anonymous feedback system to ensure that employees are able to communicate openly with their managers regarding a range of topics, including work-life balance. Additionally, all employees have regular vacation breaks with 11 paid, built-in holidays and additional accrued vacation time. As a company, we are also continuously strengthening our onboarding and career development processes, with recent improvements in both. New employees participate in two onboarding orientations to help them understand their benefit options and attain them as soon as possible. Additionally, new employees have three review meetings to ensure that they are supported and trained well within their first 90 days. Once fully trained, employees collaborate with their manager to create annual performance goals. Lastly, we sincerely believe that our people are the key to our success, which is why we consider every employee a valued member of our family. To show our appreciation, we continuously reinforce a sense of community through inter-departmental collaboration and team outings. We invest in our employees as family members with company-paid trainings, conferences and tuition reimbursement, as well as company contributions to health plans, health savings accounts, life insurance and retirement plans. Additionally, we strongly believe in giving back to our employees for their hard work through annual profit sharing bonuses. Thank you again for sharing your experience with us. We appreciate your feedback as we continue to improve our processes and culture for all of our employees.

Explore other reviews about Alto-Shaam

5.0
27 Jan 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Did a summer internship over the summer while in college. I enjoyed my time there working alongside the System Admin and Network Engineer. I learned a lot from them and I would work there again.

Cons

Only worked there for 3 months as an intern.

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Alto-Shaam Response
1y
We are glad you enjoyed your time as an intern. We encourage our interns to work cross-functionally to experience a corporate environment. Our employees enjoy training and working with interns to help grow their career.
4.0
5 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Family atmosphere, ability to make an impact

Cons

No cons to speak of

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