What I think of the company - Anonymous employee Tracer Employee Review

There's no better company to work for.

None, none whatsoever. I love leadership.

Good coworkers, when they aren’t being let go for AI or cheaper European counterparts

I’ll start by saying I appreciate the opportunity to work for this company. Tracer has enormous potential, both in IP/Brand Protection and as a workplace. However, I believe there are items that need addressing before it can be a safe and enjoyable work environment.  I’m looking for an organization that treats its people well; one that recognizes and appreciates their experience. This is not currently one. I understand I’m new to IP/Brand Protection; however, my previous experience and education should garner more than my annual pay from the company. The reason I accepted this pay scale, frankly, is that I was at a point between jobs and this was the best of the worst options. But it was and is insulting to receive an offer below what I was previously receiving despite 10 years of related experience. My new position recognizes my experience, pays equivalent, and will help me more in the long run than my position did at Tracer.  Management’s expectations compared to pay/benefits are insulting, as the competition starts with a higher salary with analytical experience, but we’re locked in to work with this company and forbidden from applying to competition with a do not compete clause. For example, OPSEC and/or MarkMonitor start between 50k–60k annually depending on experience. I don’t appreciate the fact that Tracer took advantage of me in a time of vulnerability.  In reference to treatment, Uber is a terrible client and treats us (the Uber team, but also Tracer itself) like garbage while this company does nothing about it. Kyle stepped down largely because of them. I’m not a fan of working for people that encourage toxic behavior. This is my biggest issue with this company, as the Appdetex/Tracer leadership basically encourages Uber to continue this behavior against Company employees, which is essentially weaponized corporate gaslighting, because they “offer more than we know.” In reality, they’re paying significantly less than they did initially, especially compared to other similarly-sized clients. They also constantly slight us to potential clients, which ruins future business opportunities and creates a hostile work environment.  When I mentioned this environment to my old manager, he turned it around and made me the problem: I was too sensitive. Uber insulting/bullying my work (which has never received complaints from any CSM) is something the leadership refuses to address due to Uber’s “importance”. Both Uber and the leadership’s response further adds to the bullying atmosphere in the workplace, which is against the current handbook/workplace policy. This only proves to Uber that they can do whatever they want, and this toxic work environment is something that I will warn everyone I know about, never recommend this place to work while this behavior is encouraged by leadership, and I will certainly never recommend Uber to anyone.  My old manager (who is now a director) is always busy with non-team-related things, even though he’s the team manager and primary trainer. I get he’s trying to be a team player, but consistently canceling meetings in favor of leadership’s requests impacts manager-report relationships and training.  My training was lackluster. For the most part, I either figured it out myself (or tried to) or had to reach out to other team members for training. I can’t really bring it up because of how often he cancels meetings, which makes me feel like I’d just get an excuse and be blown off. He either prioritizes the Tracer leadership over helping his team grow professionally, or the leadership believes we should understand it in a short, unrealistic amount of time. With how new the team is, it’s disconcerting either way.  Based on the leadership supporting Uber steam rolling their employees (and themselves) by not providing them with communication standards, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was about 50/50 of both.  My old manager’s leadership is lacking in multiple ways. He uses egotistical attempts to solidify his position (which has never been questioned to my knowledge) through force.  * Example 1: indications of numerous unnecessary PIPs.  * Example 2: at least one PIP was considerably longer than according to workplace policy (6-month PIP with a 90-day maximum policy).  * Example 3: alleged unequal distribution of punishment (I.e., only to male members of my team, not to female members who allegedly have the same issues).  There are more examples below related directly to me. These examples create further division and distrust of the leadership team.  Several counts of harassment and hostile comments occurred within the last month of my employment at Tracer.  * My then manager threatened me with a Perfomance Improvement Plan (see probation) for miscommunications, some of which happened nearly a year prior to the threatened PIP, and I was never counseled for.  * The second and third occurred in the same conversation with my old manager who is now a director on 22 FEB 2023. He received a phone call from the background investigator for a job I applied for, and understandably felt blindsided by the call, as I didn’t give him a heads up to expect it.  * However, in our following conversation, he mentioned that his “mentor” indicated I should be fired for looking at other jobs. Colby said he wouldn’t do that, but mentioning the conversation seemed indicative of intentions to come. * Additionally, my old manager said if I stayed with the company, he would “have” to go through my work with a fine-tooth comb looking for problems, because the company is in a transition period and can’t afford having people work here who aren’t happy.  * He also said I was one of the lowest performing on his team, which I can attribute to feeling underappreciated, and being placed on poorly chosen accounts.  None of this conversation would have happened if they weren’t aware of my applying to government positions; it seems extremely targeted and hostile. I didn’t tell him to expect a call because I saw this reaction coming based on his historical interactions with me. This is par for the course.  I don’t fully think he meant it to come off as harassing, as he mentioned he’s never experienced this before. I believe he’s receiving poor leadership advice from Bryan. My old manager, his supervisor, and the fired Senior VP, and possibly the rest of the leadership team would benefit from an external people management training. On the note of training and accounts––upon joining, the only account that I received consistent work with was Uber. However, my manager who is now a director and the CSMs did not allow me to perform enforcement actions until a year after I’d been working for the company. Similarly, he told me some CSMs didn’t feel comfortable with my work capabilities. Neither did I due to a lack of training and fruitful accounts.  I had little influence on moving “up” in the company, as my manager at the time who is now a director chose my accounts for me, and was rarely present or available to help. Training on these accounts was minimal at best. This was possibly a misinterpretation; however, he constantly pushing off meetings and tendency to blame me for issues I had no influence on certainly led to that perception. My manager at the time who is now a director’s email regarding workplace behavior was an unprofessional and poorly enacted attempt at leadership. It was only critical, as opposed to pointing out what was going well in my time here as well, and showing that I was a valued team member. Instead, he belittled me and was outright condescending.  Additionally, his instruction afterwards to “follow a chain of command” where I only talk to him, unless it’s an issue about him, is unrealistic and petty. Anyone should be able to talk to the subject matter experts, whether it is a question about HR or other issues. His attempt to shoehorn the flow of info is indicative of the company culture I’ve experienced: leadership doesn’t want people asking hard questions (or even easy questions) or making suggestions. Only “yes-people” who nod and agree, which creates a toxic work environment.  Similarly, the higher leadership’s quality is also extremely poor. A senior VP called out a CS manager (CSM) in an CS All Hands for a mistake that, frankly, is going to happen with businesses that don’t give us what we need. Further, in that same CS All Hands, he said, “we don’t hire hermits,” in reference to employees and the in-office aspect. This was insulting to those in the workplace who are more introverted, and prefer that work environment. The fact that he decided embarrassing an employee in front of their coworkers was a valid option—after they supposedly already had a private conversation about it—and simultaneously was comfortable enough to insult introverts indicates the direction this company is going in, and I don’t want to be a part of that environment.  Next, Tracer Protect (née BSP) was a poorly performing system. The entire platform routinely crashes. We have to hire contractors to take manual screenshots when BSP should automatically do it. It makes the company—or at least the Dev team—look inept when the system doesn’t work how it’s supposed to, even if it’s only internally.  Anytime an update happens, it’s rarely checked with how it impacts analysts, and is never as helpful as Dev assumes. I’d recommend having more than a few analysts from CS test it and try normal ops before releasing it to see how well it works. That way, you can avoid rolling back updates like the “bulk update all.” It’s pretty surprising we’re as capable as we are, frankly. I know the clients expect more; with the income the company makes, and level of clientele retained, I expect more too.  Instead of focusing on technology like AI or opening new locations, I’d recommend the company invest in its employees first—especially those who are consistently customer facing (which I was told would be minimal by my manager at the time who is now a director, unlike the reality of the position), as they are likely to be the most unhappy.  It’s demoralizing when all CS employees see money consistently being spent on in-office lunches, sales, and technology that may eventually be helpful (AI), as opposed to making sure the portal doesn’t crash because of the amount of filters in one account. Similarly, money from the company going into those actions, as opposed to increasing pay or adding company 401k matching contributions results in similar feelings.  An update after working at other positions in the years since Tracer: for me, government positions are where it’s at. In my case, the pay is not only commensurate, but miles better than working as a Brand Analyst for Tracer. Tracer just laid off a significant amount of US based employees, which really comes as no surprise with the changes made while I worked there (AI, hiring out of US employees) and the economy. Likely the partying in Tracer’s name didn’t help the budget situation either. I wish I had better things to say about the company after working here for over a year. I thoroughly enjoy the majority of the people I work with on a daily basis. I want the best for them, and believe these aforementioned items are integral to creating a safe and enjoyable workplace.  Thank you for your time, and I hope you take this feedback as it is meant: To help the company become a better version of itself. I understand a lot of this may not be received well. I also recognize the difficulty that presents, but believe you as a possibly interested party (whether as a potential Customer Success employee, or an investor) have a right to know my experience, and to know that I am not the only one experiencing instances like these, so that you can have the opportunity to learn about the proceedings in this company and hopefully the company will have a chance to fix them before they become worse. I honestly believe that Tracer is a good company at its core; there are simply issues that need ironing out.