Avantages
Pay their exempt employees something near market rate
Inconvénients
Can't manage their money. There seems to be no forecasting ability. One week everything is great. Two weeks later, layoffs or not paying vendors for services. The friends and family are the only people who matter. They protect their own no matter how poorly their own perform. People with talent leave the company when they realize there is no will or skill to improve. There are 3 classes of employees. The hourly ones that are in customer service type roles are treated as though they are trying to scam the company. There is a lot of surveillance of their activities, and the conversations about them in management meetings have a derogatory tone. Then there's the non-friends and family exempt employees. These folks aren't spied on but they also aren't treated with respect. Finally, there's the aforementioned friends and family. The CEO is just smarmy. Every time he talks about the "LendingPoing Family" its gross to the point of creepy. It's obvious he doesn't care about anything other than money just from his tone and body language, so why pretend? Just makes it worse. He's an exceptionally poor leader in that he is unable to manage conflict in his ranks, demand professional behavior from his leadership team, or make a business plan. He thinks hallway conversations and breakout sessions are good process, and yet, his direct reports can't ever get on the same page. He walked around the office checking on who is in the office and monitors who is not on video in conference calls. It makes for a dysfunctional culture and so many wasted dollars working on projects that aren't aligned with business objectives. Since he has not published a coherent business roadmap, the lack of alignment on business objectives may not stem solely from the chaotic culture.