Poor communication, not very transparent (though they often highlight that they are), low pay, not honest with employees.
This con review might be long, but hopefully you’ll hang in there. I was lucky enough to be a part of this team when it was still quite small, just around 50 people. As of last month, the company grew to around 140 individuals. There was (seemingly) plenty of opportunity, the colleagues I grew to know and love were so incredible at what they did, even if the pay was very low compared to industry averages. We were all willing to take the pay cut because of the great culture.
Now, I know you might be reading this and previous reviews that are in reference to the massive company layoffs that took place in March due to COVID-19 and think "wow these are some scorned employees who are probably out to get the company" but I assure you that these reviews are accurate. There are no baseless claims here, just factual statements of the company and how things were handled from the beginning to the sad end for those of us laid off. Even many of those kept on as employees have expressed to others before this pandemic that they were getting ready to jump ship.
As other reviews have mentioned, the CEO and executive team often spoke of how incredibly well the company was doing. Sales apparently had never been better, each department was regarded with a high amount of respect when spoken of, and the opportunities were apparently endless. In fact, the month prior to all the layoffs, the company took about 4 or 5 individuals and a guest of their choice on an all-expenses paid vacation to Mexico. This was supposed to be a reward to those on the sales team who hit their yearly sales quota, but only one in the group hit their goal -- and even that was due to unusual circumstances of the company's biggest deal coming in where many individuals worked on that one deal, not just one sales team member (mind you, this was out of a sales team of 20+ people. A single person hit their yearly quota). They ended up just choosing those who were closest to hitting it and of course the upper management in sales went along for the trip. This trip was in addition to expensive happy hours, tons of free Raken merchandise, the company letting select departments go to monthly lunches on their dime. That's not including the many other expensive purchases made, like buying electric scooters to use at lunch or on breaks.
So as of March, there was no indication that anything was financially unstable within the company. Not in the slightest. On March 13th, the company sent out an email that we should start working from home due to the ever-changing social climate spurred on by the pandemic. Within 5 business days (that next Friday), about half of the team received a calendar invite to a zoom meeting that I believe said something along the lines of "Raken Monthly Update." Nothing suspicious, right? Imagine over 60+ employees joining a muted zoom conference call to be told by the CEO that everyone on that call was to be terminated immediately to save the company from going under. A company that was, five days prior, touted as being unimaginably successful. Layoffs of this size shows how absolutely unstable the company was prior to this pandemic, which makes me hurt for my past colleagues who were told otherwise, and remembering the many ways the company spent money in copious amounts while trying to be trendy and the cool place to work. The call was about 5 minutes and before the five minutes were up, all credentials to the company (email, slack, etc) were revoked. No room to comment, no time for questions. Our contact was a new HR hire that started either the same day or week as the layoffs (meaning absolutely no one had met this person yet). I believe this is also the person commenting on these reviews. I say this only to make you aware, review readers, that I would put more trust in these reviews than the responses to them that you're seeing. They are made by someone who, though I'm sure they're qualified for the position, has not experienced any cultural aspects of Raken in any long-term capacity.
I strongly advise you to trust these reviews. I know it looks suspicious that negative reviews are popping up from former employees now that layoffs have happened, but also be aware that the positive reviews were often solicited by the company via slack. Reviews were highly encouraged as a way to let others know how awesome the job was so more would apply, to the point where employees knew they weren't always being honest when writing them. This does not apply for every positive review, but I know this because many of the reviews that rave about the company were from individuals who often spoke of their unhappiness with the company overall. The one review that was negative (and genuinely honest) became a huge topic of conversation around the office, everyone trying to figure out who wrote it. Don't let the responses to these reviews skew what the content is.
Raken was a cool place to work due to the people and unlimited PTO, along with some good benefits. Pay was very low, opportunities were in fact not readily available, but we stuck through it for the aforementioned reasons. Now that over 60+ employees have been let go in an unusually cowardly way, the company genuinely cannot state that the culture is unaffected/has always and will always be great. Yes, COVID-19 caused layoffs within many companies in the US. It is highly unfortunate and Raken is not alone - which is what these responses keep restating.
What COVID-19 did not cause? The absolutely horrendous way the layoffs took place. The lack of resources. The financial instability that wasn't just hidden to many employees, but actively refuted as if the idea was ridiculous. The company cannot blame their treatment of employees on this awful situation. Raken often compares themselves to that of a tribe or family. But listening to many (and I say this not dramatically, from at least 20+ employees directly) talk about how unhappy they are with the company before the layoffs, and then post on social media about being a family to uphold a better company image, really shows how inauthentic the company is. The culture, while great originally, turned sour before this sad situation.
This was all poor management and a high dependence on funding to survive.
