Until recently I have been very much telling everyone to assume positive intent. Kaseya is looking to continue Datto’s success. In general, people don’t spend 6+ Billion dollars on something they intend to break. Change is inevitable and mistakes will be made but by and large Datto should expect to continue to be the company that is loved by employees and customers alike.
This past week, many current members of the Datto team have reached out deeply dismayed. There is a concern that the current trajectory from Datto’s new owners will snuff the flame that makes Datto a place to come “Do your life’s work.”
I am not associated with the company any more so my understanding of the specifics comes entirely second hand. Current team members have reached out and described the following:
- Sidelining Employee Resource Groups that support under represented people at the company
- Looking for long term changes to budgets with decreases in excess of 30%
- Don’t treat the office as a hub for community anymore. “No more hanging out in the office.”
- Making changes to key benefits like maternity leave (down from 16 weeks to 3 weeks).
- Reducing 401k Matching from 4.5% to 0%
- Reducing vacation/pto from 20+10 to 17 total.
The method in which these changes have been introduced has done more damage than necessary. Communication has been heavy handed and those who have questioned it or expressed dismay have been simply overrun at best or summarily terminated at worst. These departures have induced a ton of unnecessary fear into the workplace. Employees are afraid to voice their opinions and give feedback. All of this is causing many incredible people who work at Datto to look for the exits.
This sucks. It feels like you just bought a leading football team and are in the process of breaking all the players legs. This is not a winning strategy. It will hurt the entire MSP industry.
Prior to the acquisition Datto posted its best quarter ever. The company’s growth was accelerating while generated meaningful returns to the bottom line. To make this happen it took a team 2200+ diverse, committed and brilliant people around the world delivering great product for MSPs. This team and the culture that bonds them together is the secret to Datto’s success. More than any price point or technology. Losing this team will spell certain demise for business long term.
To the management team at Kaseya. Take a beat. Stop and listen. There was a saying in Datto new hire training that “Datto is not your last company. Things are different here.” Datto is not the last company you acquired, it’s different. Its differentness is what makes it successful, not what holds it back. You have an incredible opportunity to be the engine that takes the entire MSP industry to a whole new level. You have purchased a unique asset that can bring you (yes you Kaseya!), like all its prior owners, incredible financial return. The way to get those returns and continue the upward trajectory for everyone in the MSP space is to listen and support Datto’s differences, rather than destroy them.
Austin, with all due respect, the culture of Datto started to deteriorate the moment you walked away. I was there during the 'golden age' boom: the opening of the Rochester office, the ten year celebration at the amusement parks, and I stayed as long as I could until my career aspirations were literally ripped out from under me during one of Datto's "reorganizations."
I wanted to believe in Datto, and for a long time I did. It took cutting my career off at the knees to finally admit that things had changed beyond recognition. And unfortunately, it only got worse after I left. I also know about former employees who were threatened by Datto's legal team as a hail mary to prevent more employees from leaving. All the former employees did was post their new employment on LinkedIn, and other Datto employees took it upon themselves to apply to these places their colleagues had gone to. I distinctly remember Datto management talking with glee years ago about scooping up employees from Unisys, Blackboard, Windstream, and Sutherland (to name a few), who were desperate for a better working environment. Many current and former Datto employees are utilizing burner accounts to share their stories because they are afraid of retaliation, myself included.
I'm posting this in an effort to help you understand that this didn't just happen in the last year, it didn't just happen with the pandemic; we've seen the red flags for years now, and all efforts to reason with management and offer solutions were either ignored or underhandedly penalized. It all started with the acquisition from Vista, slicing off one inch of culture at a time, and this is the result. The profits from the last year+ are on the backs of employees who are burnt out, ground to dust, many of whom have had to take short-term disability for mental breakdowns. People cried at their desks every day, even pre-COVID. Things have been bad for a long time, it's just finally bad enough that it can't be ignored.