Pros
Many knowledgeable employees with many years of industry experience Flexible work hours Flexible remote work opportunities Opportunities to work with large corporate enterprises Vendor lunch and learns Basic Health, Dental, Vision Some 401k match
Cons
Waveguide has multiple systematic issues that set employees up for disappointment from the start. Waveguide’s workplace exhibits typical symptoms of burnout and a toxic work environment: Lack of Transparency - from Senior management - in Career Paths - and between departments, Siloed communication and department hierarchies, Intimidation as a method of improving compliance, Salary Negotiation Taboo, Vastly overworked and underpaid staff, a “Work Hard, Go Home, Speak if necessary” mentality, and a general focus on Profit rather than Purpose (Likely driven by financial pressure from Compass Group, our “Benevolent Corporate Overlords.”) There is no Waveguide HR Department. One liaison communicates with Compass Corporate HR on behalf of WG employees. Waveguide all-hands meetings typically focus on potential leads or awarded business, while retention continually deteriorates - particularly among young employees, women, and persons of color. One department has seen 4 women and 2 men leave within the last few years, and 4 of these were persons of color. Men who left seemed to receive more support and hopes for a continued company relationship than women. Meanwhile, no mention is given to this trend, and rather than preemptively showing remaining employees their value (as they pick up added workloads), Waveguide will wait until an employee receives and discloses an offer before reacting and attempting to match it. In my time with the company I’ve seen 8+ people leave for other opportunities. Overtime will be expected of you without compensation or PTO. This is often described as “just the way it is.” Some departments see senior-level employees pull all-nighters in order to meet deadlines. Meanwhile, other departments ask that newer employees manage multiple full-time jobs at entry-level pay-rates. Senior management typically does not have the time to support or quality check work as they continually work 60+ hrs/week themselves. With senior management also playing the role of Middle Management, associates are often left on their own. Employees are often given additional job responsibilities arbitrarily without adequate training or direction; and are then described as having a role with a higher pay grade than reality. This has caused many employees to feel exploited for their low salary. Covid-19 furloughs also followed this trend. Training techniques typically seen in the tech industry such as department rotations or mock-project delivery do not exist at Waveguide, and no one seems to have the time to adequately prepare training. Instead, associates are expected to learn by osmosis as senior employees work on multiple projects. Otherwise, training is commonly attempted in the heat of a crisis. This (mixed with a general lack of direction for how employees can progress in their careers to achieve industry proficiency) creates a high level of risk and can often boil over into mistakes.
