SmashFly Technologies

Nov 6th, 2019

Aug 27th, 2018

Jun 22nd, 2018

Great place to work
Jun 3rd, 2018

I was hired at SmashFly in the Concord, MA, office as a part of the Customer Success Management team. During my first 1:1 with my manager, she asked me what managing style I preferred. I told her I didn’t need validation if I were doing well. However, if I were doing something wrong or that needed improvement, just be straight with me and help me on how I could improve. My manager told me on many accounts that it was okay to ask questions, and it was okay for me to make mistakes. At the end of my sixth week, my manager rescheduled our 1:1 from that Friday to the following Monday morning. After I joined the call, I noticed the Director of HR was also on our call, which had never happened before. In that moment, I knew I was being terminated. My manager said the Director of HR was on the call because this was my last day with SmashFly and she will review the offboarding process with me. My manager then left the call. The Director of HR told me I was being shut out of everything and that she would call me on my personal phone to go over the information. She called and started walking me through a “Separation Agreement.” We were a few paragraphs into the first page when I interrupted her. I said, “I apologize, but I’m a little shocked and confused. Can you please tell me why I’m being terminated, because I have had no warnings and didn’t see this coming at all.” She then had to “check her notes.” She gave me two reasons: one was a flat-out lie; the second was an overdramatization of a situation from which no one should be terminated. After I shed light on the two accusations, she was able to come up with the third reason -- also not true. At this point, I told the Director of HR that we could continue going through the paperwork because I knew nothing I said would save my job. (The reasons were so ludicrous that I did seek legal advice.) I consider myself a very hardworking, genuine and loyal person. I was prepared to be committed to SmashFly and had hopes of making it my career. Due to my morality, I could not allow myself to sign the Separation Agreement. The Separation Agreement stated I could not speak about my termination and in turn would receive two weeks of severance pay. I wanted the right to share my story in hopes of shedding light on how a new, eager-to-learn employee was treated. I still do not fully understand why I was fired from SmashFly with absolute no warning, and I do not agree with how it was handled. All I can do is assume the real reason(s) I was terminated. I am a true customer/client advocate and am aggressive when it comes to solving their issues. My guess is I was too assertive in finding solutions in a timely manner and became an annoyance, especially since the issues I had witnessed other team members solve took an average of two - four weeks. I assume they wanted someone who would be a social butterfly within the team and put the customer needs second. If I can give any advice to someone applying for a position on the Customer Success Management team, ensure your priority is befriending your boss and team members and not doing what is best for your customers at the risk of being an annoyance. Above all, I wish my boss had been honest about the real reason(s) I was terminated, so I could have actually grown from this experience rather than just gaining a resume gap.
Jul 10th, 2019