UserTesting reviews about "communication"

- Nepotism. Sometimes it feels like a family business. At UserTesting, it certainly doesn't hurt to be old friends with the executives or related to them. - Like most tech companies, UserTesting lacks diversity, especially in management. 6 in 7 executives are white men. - Non-engineers are paid on the low-end, particularly our UX Research Team. - Could be better communication between Sales, Product, and Client-facing teams. The company is taking strides to work on this as a whole. - Like most tech companies, need more engineers. Hoping we can bring on more engineers to keep up with the huge demand for our web & mobile user research platform. - Our offices are cramped, and we're all spread out in different offices within a complex.

As with any startup, there are growing pains. Internal communication is an issue at times, and teams are sometimes slow to keep up with company changes and growth. But management is receptive to feedback and is always striving to make things better.

The company has 5x as many employees as it did 2 years ago. This growth has lead to communication and organization challenges.

There is a huge disconnect between the brilliant people and ideas in the c-level suite and the reality of the day to day, largely because no one is communicating effectively (and this disconnect only gets broadened because of a few bad apples in upper management). There is terrible communication between departments and (depending on your department) terrible communication within your department. No one is on the same page about what direction we are headed (or how we are going to get there), which results in a lot business politics because you have to cater to everyone's agendas. Additionally, the company theoretically makes up for their subpar salaries with learning and growth opportunities, but the emphasis is so on the bottom line that no one has time to learn or grow. What's worse is that they don't reward anyone for actually living up to their absurd standards and timelines. Everyone burns out in 6 months to a year. All of which makes working here exhausting because we've created a situation in which it is impossible to improve ourselves or the company.

Company politics are a factor in just about any workplace, but so few organizations are as strictly governed by them as UserTesting. While upper management is comprised of only a handful of individuals, they've established a precedent in which feedback is appreciated (but only the 'right' kind), advancement is possible (but only if you're a relative or a buddy of theirs), and employees can distinguish themselves (but only through unreasonably long hours). The c-suite's reluctance to promote from within the company remains prevalent throughout the workplace. In the few instances where opportunities do arise they are almost immediately gifted to the manager's favorite worker rather than the one who was most qualified. This issue would be less relevant if the compensation were adequate, if bonus work was rewarded, and if growth opportunities were present - however given that the average workweek ranges anywhere between 50-70 hours (6am calls and weekend hours included) and that the salary is barely livable, the whole politics-pill becomes a bit too hard to swallow. It also should be noted, to the merit of UserTesting, that hostility within the company is greatly discouraged. However if the issue pertains to a manager's misconduct or abuse of power, then HR is entirely unresponsive, if not occasionally duplicitous in their approach. This brings me to the issue of trust: at UserTesting, the rift between management and employees only grows as bottom-up feedback becomes irrelevant (ironic for a feedback driven business model). This results in very little communication between the various departments, (both to one another and internally) and sadly makes any change a slow and tedious process.

The lack of transparency in the company leaves employees questioning managerial structure, direction, and vision of the company. Communication between departments needs to be improved in order to provide and evolve the product efficiently and with clear direction. The workload researchers are expected to tackle is enormous; which often requires working overtime and completing work at home. Despite how much the research team contributes to the company at large, the research team is not appreciated by senior management as an integral aspect of the company. Salaries are inadequate. A 48K salary is not enough compensate the amount of work and stress involved as a UX researcher. There is a distinct lack of career advancement opportunities as a UX researcher.