Scaling-Up or Stuck? Passionate staff, held back by poor leadership - Anonymous Elvie Employee Review

ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY: Elvie blames the economic downturn to deflect accountability for the decisions of the Execs. The reality is there are many other companies that made better strategic decisions, such as not tripling headcount in 12 months. They claim “growing pains” from transitioning from Start-Up to Scale-Up, but scaling-up is the transition to an established company. If after 11 years a company has not scaled-up, it's likely a leadership problem, not a scaling issue. This issue shouldn’t be normalised by blaming ‘external factors’, but used as an opportunity to look internally. HOMOGENOUS HIRING: I raised concerns with HR about the dominance of ex-Dyson hires, which created a homogenous environment where pre-existing relationships gave certain ideas an edge. They dismissed it, saying ex-Dyson staff made up only 20-30%, but no other single group came close to that size, proving my concern. The Exec team is almost exclusively ex-Dyson, many hired by each other. TOXIC POLITICS: Some departments, driven by insecurity and fear of redundancies, have shifted from supporting others to dictating how they should be helped. Execs, choosing to be blind to the toxic traits of these departments, leaving this behaviour unchecked and allowed to grow. BAD FINANCES: “Every time you hear the term EBITDA, substitute it with the word bull. earnings” - Charlie Munger In every All-Hands we’d come together and hope for positive financial news. We believed the optimistic graphs shown to us by the CFO—until the first round of redundancies. After that, we started questioning everything. The explanations grew more convoluted, using EBITDA breakdowns to adjust how bad things really were. There have been constant whispers about bankruptcy. With the shifting financial rationale month to month, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumours were true. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE: When asked about selling outdated products as sales slumped, the Exec team replied, “Technology doesn’t spoil, unlike food.” This is blatantly false—no one uses floppy disks anymore. It highlighted a clear lack of business understanding towards Product and Marketing. POOR DECISIONS: The poor choices and borderline lies felt like an Elisabeth Homles, Theranos sequel. Elvie’s struggle for profitability has less to do with “industry circumstances” and more with the constant poor decisions from the ever-changing Exec team. TOXIC BEHAVIOUR: A colleague on a project spread rumours, bullied teammates, and scapegoated others. Despite numerous complaints, they were left unchecked, causing six people to resign. One person even stopped showing up for months before being noticed and let go. OVERWORKED: I’ve seen too many colleagues in tears, overwhelmed by stress. Many worked 10–12 hour days to meet unrealistic deadlines, fearing the company might fail. The reward for meeting these deadlines? More impossible expectations, leading to burnout and guilt for taking time off, knowing it would burden their teammates. ELVIE FRIDAYS: The every-other-Friday off is meant to compensate for the lack of skills-based pay raises in over four years. While there’s been a company-wide percentage raise, it’s not enough to keep up with inflation, which has a big impact for those with families. With the amount of overwork, that day off is really just time owed in lieu. There’s huge pressure to prove the company can handle it, so people hide being overburdened, fearing the perk will be taken away. I often worked on those Fridays to keep up with the workload. The “most flexible” workplace accolade feels more like people praising flexibility out of fear of losing it. I’d rather work 6 days a week at my current company than 2 days at Elive, let alone 4. “...THE MISSION” After the first redundancies and a pay freeze, the CEO was asked, "Why do you think people will stay?" The reply: "Because of the mission." This repeated response showed a clear disconnect from reality. Staff need to pay bills, support their families, and grow their careers—purpose alone isn’t enough. The worst part? Many women joined Elvie hoping to make a real impact in a supportive environment, only to find the reality far different. REDUNDANCIES: The first round of redundancies came just two years after a massive hiring spree (summer 2022), likely due to the belief that more people would mean more products. But with no real structures or processes in place, despite hard work and millions invested, there was little output. The responsibility for this falls on the Exec team, who failed to provide a clear long-term strategy. After the first redundancies, we were told “there would be no more”, and that the Exec—not the board—made the decisions. Yet weeks later, the board demanded more layoffs, forcing many of us to justify our jobs again, which irreparably damaged our trust. Shortly after this, money “appeared” for a company party. It was a tone-deaf move, when the money spent on the event could have possibly saved jobs. This year (2024) saw another round of layoffs, primarily those within their probation period, which felt even worse as many had left secure jobs to join Elvie, only to be let go without redundancy pay. The energy within Elvie has darkened with each round of redundancy. People are now fighting to prove their worth in anxious anticipation of the next round. All the while stuck in roles for years: overworked, underpaid, and without promotions. Once kind colleagues have turned politically vicious, chasing security through recognition—things they’ll never get at Elvie.