Overworked, Underpaid, Laid Off - Administrative Sonic Foundry Employee Review

2.0
3 Mar 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The downtown Madison office location is great, especially in warm weather. The rank and file workers at Sonic Foundry are good people, and good coworkers.

Cons

It's a good place to work if you're a white male. Hardly any non-white employees, and it seems to have a problem with women in positions of authority. During its latest round of layoffs in the fall of 2020, 2 female VP's with years of seniority left the company. Female CFO also just resigned. New CEO is from DeVry University, a for-profit organization with a reputation for predatory lending practices and targeting veterans and low-income students. (I am not allowed to include an HTML link, but please read CNN story "DeVry will refund $100 million to students to settle FTC lawsuit") Company is trapped in a cycle of decline, retrenchment (attrition, layoffs, benefit suspension), and only brief periods of turnaround. No sustained growth. (This is a publicly traded company, so their financial performance is public record). Middle management practices Kiss Up, Kick Down management. They are only there to carry out executive decisions. They're unwilling or unable to address the concerns of individual contributors or protect their team's jobs. The company is shrinking, not growing, so there is no room for advancement unless someone quits, and they absolutely have to fill the position. Attrition is the norm - if they can get by without filling a job, they will, and the workload is spread among the remaining team.

Explore other reviews about Sonic Foundry

5.0
22 Feb 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people and collaborative culture!

Cons

Resources seem to be stretched.

2.0
6 Mar 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people - some more productive than others, some more experienced, but the culture and vibe in the office was great - unfortunately long gone. Good benefits, half-day Fridays, 30 days PTO, hybrid work environment.

Cons

CEO, CEO, CEO. Really admired Joe for a while, but his true colors are ugly. Terrible leader, thinks of himself as a great deal maker/team builder/seller and none of those are true. Drove the company into the ground! (what else do you call a CEO who joins a company with ~$4 stock, now delisted and pink slip trading at $0.01?) Terrible idea to have a company like this publicly traded. Starting a tech start-up within a public company again shows the lack of business acumen from Joe/the board. The board is as much to fault as the leadership in the company - they've let this whole process run its course - running up debt, multiple layoffs, drastically declining morale, and yet continue to reward c-suite handsomely.

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