Pluspunten
Qualtrics is easily one of the Utah business world's greatest success stories. Few companies have achieved the profitability, growth, and industry-changing accomplishments as the Q. Most companies pale in comparison in terms of excitement, energy, and smart, think-on-your-feet people. I would pit almost any Qualtrics employee against any other company's work-force and 9 times out of 10, Qualtricians would win. I love the people there and still consider some who continue to work there, very close friends.
Minpunten
Qualtrics attracts young, high energy, and entrepreneurial people. Unfortunately, these people typically lack experience and therefore the savvy necessary to know when they've been taken for a ride. The sales side of the company can be lucrative, I admit - and Qualtrics will argue that their low salary, "high" commission model rewards those that "bet on themselves". The problem with that idea is that Qualtrics also has the responsibility to bet on its employees. The company takes absolutely no risk in hiring because its compensation is so low. Even if you are able to claw your way to high paying commissions, you have 1) spent at least 2-3 years getting there (years you could have been getting paid literally 3X the base salary plus double digit increases in commission at almost any other local company), 2) you would have done so working 60+ hour weeks with little to no real account management support and 3) you risk being put in a sub-par region and expected to hit the same quotas and as a result miss out on promotional opportunities that your peers who were lucky enough to be put in New York were able to get while you scratch out a living in Arkansas. Leadership will tell you my attitude is poor. They will talk about how difficult it was for them to get to where they are and promise similar opportunities for you in the future. The problem with that line of thinking is that their struggle resulted in major share percentages with massively high salaries. Very few, if any, people hired after the basement or "across from the practice field" days, will ascend to that level. Can you become a Regional Lead? You bet. But if you think you'll be allowed into the inner circle, you'll be sorely disappointed. I also found a great deal of frustration when it came to nepotism. When you run a billion dollar company, you no longer have the luxury to give hand-outs to your friends who you play basketball with on the weekends and give front row tickets to at BYU games. This is unprofessional, dishonest, and morally negligent. People should be rewarded on merit, not simply because they helped you win your church ball tournament with a killer J. If you want to run the company by working people for what equates to minimum wage, filling in the gaps with empty "benefits" like cereal, and promoting based on tenure rather than talent, that's fine. It's your company. Just have the balls to admit it. Don't put yourself in the same category as your employees. Most of them will never be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They will, however, work just as hard as you. Yes, they will and do. I don't care how many private jets you take. And no, you didn't take a massive risk by starting this company. "Bootstrapping" for the Q equates to having a lot of family money that could be independently invested without real risk. When you start working a 60+ hour work week for a company that pays you a 36K salary and who tells you to "invest in yourself" to make a livable wage - when you do that for several years and simultaneously start a billion dollar company, then you can give yourself a pat on the back.