Refuses to listen to over-worked, under-valued employees - Recensione dipendente - Customer Care presso SmartPak Equine

Employees are grossly under-valued, especially in Customer Care. Customer Care gets the worst pay, the least flexible hours, the least opportunity for advancement and has to pick up the pieces and deal with angry customers when any other department messes up. (Which happens quite a bit. Marketing, in particular, seems to constantly make mistakes they don't have to face the consequences for. They also seem to get paid the most and work the least--if you can get into Marketing, go for it!) Pay is very low, especially considering the cost of living in the Plymouth area/compared to other jobs with similar expectations and requirements. "Work hard, play hard" is a euphemism for "don't expect any work-life balance, unless you want to base your entire social life around SmartPak and your co-workers." (Some people do this and are very happy at SmartPak, but it's not for everyone!) There is absolutely no transparency from upper management, especially in Customer Care--promotions seem arbitrary and they absolutely pick favorites. If you're not a favorite, you have little chance for advancement. Upper management refuses to listen to legitimate gripes that employees have. Case in point: many employees felt their salaries were low, so management held a meeting to tell them they were wrong because they have an employee discount (which really only helps you if you have the disposable income to use it); employees complained about lunch times being unexpectedly (sometimes the day of) cut in half and brainstormed possible solutions, only to have management shoot down each one and then move the issue to the back burner until it was forgotten about. Management consistently exploits the fact that their employees are young to undermine their legitimate complaints (e.g., this is your first real job and you just don't know how good you have it). There is almost no diversity--the entire company is full of white, upper-middle class preppy types. Except the warehouse workers. Who don't really get acknowledged or included in company events... There's some weirdness in a company that is 99% women, but all the top-tier positions are held by men (some of whom replaced women who were unexpectedly let go...), and the CFO thinks it's appropriate to make jokes about "not liking to hear no from girls" at team meetings. Long story short--SmartPak absolutely refuses to listen to legitimate constructive criticism. (All the really suspicious glowing reviews posted around the same time should give you an idea of how SmartPak responds to employee concerns. They bury them.) As a result, there's very high employee burnout and turnover. Some people are very happy there, but you have to be totally willing to praise SmartPak, drink the Kool-Aid and center your life around your (not often super rewarding or challenging) work.