Business travel without a destination - Operations Rocketrip Employee Review

As always, we appreciate your candor in providing feedback. We are happy to hear that you had a great experience with your co-workers and with the level of autonomy over your work. We certainly agree that we have very talented, awesome people at Rocketrip, and that our product and the vision behind it are amazing. It is also definitely part of the culture here to provide all employees with a strong voice; we hire great people and trust them to take initiative and drive the direction of their own work. Thank you for also recognizing the effort that goes into providing fun and engaging events and information sharing forums like our monthly company-wide All Hands Meetings! As you pointed out, we are very interested in gathering feedback to continuously improve the employee experience. To that end, we have been focused over the last months on ensuring that we have a clear and well-communicated product roadmap and vision. Open and honest communication from the top is emphasized with weekly company-wide updates from the CEO and all executives, several outlets for anonymous and direct questions and comments and open public discussion with the CEO and the leadership team (for example via our dedicated “ask the CEO anything” Slack channel, and at the monthly All Hands or Quarterly OKR meetings.) We also have a standing open door policy to discuss any concerns or ideas - even though we actually don’t have any doors...the Executives and the CEO all sit out on the open floor with everyone else ; ) New ideas are welcomed, explored and vetted for their feasibility against the roadmap, resources, client needs, etc. The challenge is in determining priorities, and unfortunately not all new ideas can be implemented at once. Just because something is not done, definitely doesn’t mean it wasn’t heard and carefully considered. In terms of decisions being sales-led… of course sales are extremely important! We wouldn’t have a company, nor the ability to invest further in the product without a very strong sales focus. However, this is balanced with constant evaluation of long-term product strategy, market needs, customer requests, innovative new ideas, etc. It may not always be broadly visible as you go about daily activities, but rest-assured, there is a continuous rigorous evaluation of the product and longer term strategy. When it comes to growth opportunities at Rocketrip, we actually have a high rate of internal promotions and mobility across and within departments; we are actively in the process of developing enhanced career paths and job ladders. We have also begun making career development planning and action plans a part of the bi-annual performance review process. It is, of course, the case that we expect demonstrated performance levels to warrant promotions; we also set out the expectations and steps required as well as providing the support and resources to achieve the next level. With regard to the concern you raise about “butt in seats”, I do want to clarify that we provide a lot of flexibility to employees and support several remote work arrangements. In fact, more than 20% of our company works remotely! It is true that we also have a strong office culture, and feel that it is important that those who are able to do so, work in the office as much as possible. We feel that this facilitates strong employee bonds and more effective communication and idea-sharing (and we just have more fun when we are together!) When it comes to “visibility”, we certainly encourage all employees to be actively involved and contributing at a high level! However, to be clear, this can and is done very effectively by our remote employees, as well! We are always trying to effect positive changes based on feedback, and we realize that sometimes changes take time if they are to be done right. We also hope to provide a broader and balanced perspective through our responses here. We aren’t perfect...no workplace is, but we care, and we always take what you have to say to heart and use it to further the positive evolution of the company and culture. Keep it coming! As always, feel free to connect with us directly to discuss further by contacting HR@Rocketrip.com.