Pros
There was a time when MX provided a wonderful work environment, and I hold hope for a return to those days. Regrettably, the elements that made MX exceptional are currently undergoing systematic dismantling, and it seems unlikely that they will be restored in the near future. ● MX drew in the most skilled talent and ensured that every person joining MX shared the values of the company. However, while these values are touted at MX still they are not practiced completely by the executive leadership and so this is quickly breaking down. ● MX once understood its people, understood that work/life balance was key to success for both the company and each individual. While some of this remains, it too has been systematically chipped away at for the last year now. ● Pay is normal. Healthcare benefits are limited. Bonuses are confusing and no one really knows how they are assessed. Career growth and upward mobility is secondary to simple survival. ● MX offices in Lehi are beautiful, but the atmosphere in the air is toxic due to constant and sustained disruption from leadership. Everyone is there because they are forced to be there, not because they want to be there. ● MX provides lunch, so there is that… ● MX led the way in innovation within fintech, now innovation comes secondary to the whims of the leadership team. They happily and consistently disrupt product plans and waste engineering resources and then act shocked when we are not able to deliver on original plans.
Cons
● MX values that leadership fails to live by: ○ “Exuberance for Life” - Leadership is not inspirational, encouraging, kind, or loving in their approach to the people that make up MX or in their general running of MX. ○ “Foundation of Trust” - The majority of MX expresses a valid sense of distrust towards the leadership team due to the incessant imposition of irrational changes. The once present transparency and openness have been substituted with a complete disconnection from any form of feedback from employees. ○ “Objectivity in Discourse” - Leadership exhibits dishonesty by attempting to present their actions as "fostering collaboration" or "addressing cross-functional communication". Everyone can see plainly that there is a complete lack of trust in their own employees. ○ “Cognizance” - Empathy for the people who make up MX is overshadowed by cost cutting and performance when they don’t realize you can have both. ● It is now common to hear the words “If you don’t like it, then just leave MX”. Jim says it at almost every town hall meeting. It doesn’t actually force people to leave, it just creates a toxic environment and only serves to show that leadership is not interested in hearing any opinions of the workforce. Leadership is completely out of touch with the people that make up MX ● Old fashioned micromanagement has infected everything we do. Every person at MX has to report weekly via survey to the CEO. If you’re not able to make it into the office you have to directly write to your immediate executive with your excuse as to why you will not be there like you are in kindergarten. It’s cumbersome, frustrating and borderline childish and only shows the mistrust leadership has for its people and the complete lack of understanding of what teams are working on, focused on and dealing with. ● Combined with all the change, leadership has been clear that they expect on average 15% of MX to be on PIPs at any given time, further ensuring that people do not speak their minds on anything not even to their direct managers. Attrition is the goal. ● Local employees are compelled to work from the office and are subjected to monitoring, while simultaneous efforts have been made to exacerbate challenges for remote employees in maintaining engagement with their teams. ● HR and People Experience teams are there to serve the needs of the executive team and you have to be very careful what you actually disclose to them for fear it’ll be used against you. Talking with them feels like you are talking to a room full of lawyers, and not your lawyers, the other side's lawyers. Their words are strategic, measured and carefully chosen and they rely on semantics rather than being honest and clear. ● Communication or feedback with the executive team has been entirely severed. They exhibit a deliberate avoidance of any information related to the consequences of their decisions. There is a clear lack of concern for understanding how these choices impact individuals within the organization. ● People now wander around in shocked silence most of the time. Every other week some new disruptive change comes down and people know their opinions do not matter, their voices are not heard and if they speak out they will be targeted. ● Trust is completely obliterated at every level. People don’t go to their managers with anything, managers are powerless to help or affect any change. ● Career growth comes secondary to managing people's reactions to life altering changes that are made in a bubble and on a whim by leadership. ● Leadership expects a "founders mentality" from everyone and demands over time and extraordinary effort for a job that could be eliminated next week. They expect us to care while they do not care about us. ● Project plans and timelines are disrupted constantly by executive teams interference. It’s now common to hear the dreaded line “what can we stop doing to start doing this new new thing” in the middle of a sprint or quarter. They are reactionary and our best laid plans are rarely executed on without disruption from the top. ● So much focus on micromanaging employees that the executive team themselves are to blame for teams being distracted from delivering on what we say we are going to deliver. I wish we could just focus on our job at hand and that they would leave us alone. ● There is a real and tangible sense that the leadership at MX is bombarding people with change that affects them personally in order to drive people out naturally in a cost cutting effort. What they fail to realize is this strategy is only driving away top talent. ● Hiring good talent is becoming harder and harder with all the archaic policies and methods in place. High performers do not want to be micromanaged!! We are losing good people constantly. We expected to continue to deliver even though we are not permitted to backfill our losses. ● Engineering teams bear full responsibility for addressing after-hours issues and handling all testing and quality assurance. Entire QA departments have been eliminated, with these duties now shifted to engineering. The increased workload is expected to be absorbed into the daily responsibilities without any adjustments to timelines or estimations, despite the workload expanding exponentially. ● They don’t even do company Christmas parties anymore and no longer celebrate work anniversaries. Even this small gesture to employees and an opportunity to foster team comradery has been obliterated for no good reason. ● Ignore any reviews prior to 2022 and don’t be fooled by recruiting materials made years ago - MX is a completely different company now.