j2 Global trashed what was once a great company - Anonymous employee SugarSync Employee Review

1.0
16 Jul 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* Used to be a fun work environment with lots of dedicated, smart coworkers before the company was acquired. There are still some great people left, of course, but they are getting fewer and fewer. * At one time it was a great opportunity for learning and career growth. * Free Friday lunches, fun company outings (cruises, go-kart racing, scavenger hunts, etc), stocked fridge with drinks and snacks.

Cons

* Almost the entire Engineering, Product, and Operations teams have left or been laid off in the past 3-4 months after the company was acquired by j2 Global. Only Customer Support and a literal handful (i.e. less than 5) of developers and Ops staff remain. In February 2015, just 5 short months ago, SugarSync employed close to 50 people; now, only about 15 are left. * There was no serious attempt made to retain employees after the acquisition. This, combined with several rounds of heavy-handed and shortsighted layoffs, left staff demoralized, unmotivated, and overworked, forced to do more with nothing. Naturally, a mass exodus of talent ensued. No retention bonuses of substance were offered (new CEO Hemi Zucker is openly opposed to financial incentives), no retention plans were put in place - it was like they refused to even acknowledge that employee retention was a substantive issue. New management was warned time and time again that this would happen, but refused to heed the warnings. The swift departure of so many senior employees had a domino effect that caused other, more junior people to resign that would have stayed on despite the other changes. * The new ownership is cheap and embodies the saying "penny-wise, but pound-foolish." They offer bare minimum vacation time and 401(k) matching (not sure about salary for new employees, but I suspect it's below market as well). During the initial onboarding process, we were told that we were getting a much richer benefits package than the rest of the company and that the company "doesn't like to spend money" on its employees. Really? * Absurd and archaic policies or lack thereof. A few examples: no work from home policy; education-related costs relevant to job (i.e. classes, books, certification tests, etc) are only reimbursed up to 50%, must be approved directly by the CEO (yes, the CEO of the whole company) and the money must be returned if the employee leaves the company within a certain time frame; the company has a formal policy forbidding departing employees from sending farewell emails (they must have quite a bit of turnover to be so preoccupied with this). * I could go on, but others have said many similar things here. See also: j2 Global Glassdoor review page.

Explore other reviews about SugarSync

5.0
21 Sept 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Treated people well; analytically rigorous; high integrity

Cons

In a very tough market category

1.0
18 Mar 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Interesting core technology - Hard technical challenges, opportunities for learning - Decent benefits for a startup - Operations team is very good

Cons

- New CEO Mike Grossman has been a strong negative. Many employees have left under his tenure and the company is worse off as a result. - Grossman has hired/promoted friends and former colleagues, and some (but not all) of them have had questionable qualifications for their roles. - The new management structure has led to politics and empire building among the managers at the company, even though they publicly talk about honest and openness. - All the talk about "values" seems to be a smokescreen: the management team does not actually live up to to the standards they promote. - It doesn't seem like there is a place for this company in the market. The competition is very strong and better funded. In the big picture, it's hard to see a positive future for SugarSync other than an acquisition. And it's not clear who would want to buy the company, especially since a large number of key people have left. I don't think keeping the former CEO would necessarily have saved the company, but Grossman has not helped.

4
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