Unfortunately, said laid-back office culture and benefits package lead management to feel that employees don't need adequate hourly wages. It's been proven time and again that other very similar companies in the area pay their employees much more for the same type of work. A great benefits package doesn't help me much when I'm one paycheck away from homelessness -- especially after several years with the company, which is admittedly unique because most employees don't last this long.
Before 2020, employees recieved quarterly raises and bonuses based on performance evaluation. When the company tightened its belt in 2020, these raises/bonuses were discontinued. Partway through 2021, the company reuintroduced raises and bonuses but on a semiannual schedule instead of quarterly. This was touted as a great new benefit, when in reality it was a step backward from how employees were previously compensated. Furthermore, these raises are not adequate to the cost of living or inflation -- and Boostability has said they have no plans to consider inflation or cost of living when determining raises, even though the cost of living in Utah has gone up by 3% in the last year and inflation has risen 6% globally. Frankly, I am stunned at the number of employees who own homes and have children on the wages Boostability offers.
Also, opportunities for advancement are few and far between. The only path upward is through managing people or teams; there is no upward movement in specialized fields that aren't management, which means that skilled employees are stuck in lowest-tier positions. Boostability's assembly-line model means that employees also don't have versatile skills that they can take to other companies -- each employee does literally only one thing repeatedly day after day. This wouldn't be as big a problem if employees weren't always looking for new work outside of Boostability, but most employees don't last more than a year or two.
Recently, management made it clear that they have no interest in retaining employees or ensuring employees feel valued. This has always been an unspoken belief among employees but management stated it nearly outright at a recent meeting and morale has been declining swiftly because of it.
Boostability preys on college students and recent graduates who are happy to start at $13 an hour when the same labor earns $30+ at other local companies. And because there's a new crop of college graduates like clockwork every six months (Boostability is located within 25 miles of three universities), they have no motivation to retain more experienced employees.
The assembly-line model of production at Boostability makes it very difficult to communicate between teams and efficiently deliver a quality product. When concerns are raised, the "chain of command" is paramount and it's nearly impossible to improve the system or workflow. At the same time, executive officers and managers make changes seemingly on a whim with no communication to the teams who those changes actually affect, and then the employees are forced to just "deal with" changes that are made without warning.
The overall attitude of the executive team is often condescending and pandering. Legal requirements are held up as great things Boostability does for its employees, when we all know they’re required by law. That’s not very “what a company!” worthy.
