"I'm writing to inform you that I am resigning, effective in two weeks, to pursue other opportunities."
Business owners and managers are getting more letters to that effect everyday as workers get burned out by the daily grind, workplace culture issues and the prolonged pandemic. This week we learned 440,000 Texas workers quit their jobs in September, more than any other state.
It doesn't look like that pace will slow much in the near term. But as workers walk away, many are in search of a better fit. That's where newly launched Austin startup JobSage Inc. comes in.
The workplace reviews website aims to give job seekers more transparency about workplace culture based on questions that often matter most. Will I get a fair salary? How's the paid time off? Is this a welcoming and inclusive workplace for me? Will I have a sense of purpose working here?
JobSage helps fill in the blanks with a more finely tuned approach than you might find on other job review sites, which often capture just the very best and very worst of experiences.
The employer reviews platform is led by a team of three co-founders with significant experience in the local startup ecosystem. They are the only employees for now, although they work with a handful of contractors as well.
CEO Jacob Rios is a former director of product at Austin-based Civitas Learning who was most recently vice president of product and design at fast-growing Austin education-technology startup Aceable. Chief Operating Officer Kelli Mason, who previously co-founded consulting business Paradigm, has worked at Yonder and is a partner at local social impact hub Notley. And Chief Technology Officer Ryan Patterson has co-founded and sold two companies, All Web Leads and SeniorAdvice.com, before working on the boards of directors at Well Aware and Well Beyond.
Now the trio have got their new startup off the ground — it launched in April — and already have reviews for about 25 local employers, mostly in the tech startup sector, such as Data.world and Planoly.
"It can actually be really hard to know what it's like to work in a company unless you happen to work there," Rios said. "And so we want to kind of fix that for the job seeker."
For now, JobSage is focused on Austin, with plans to expand in the future.
JobSage works directly with local employers to create a profile that shares insights about the company's culture. JobSage asks employers to share surveys with their employees to generate candid feedback on the platform. That, in turn, can help participating companies become a more trusted potential employer for candidates seeking particular work environments.
"We're not asking you to be a perfect company," Rios said. "But what we are asking you to do is to be open and honest and authentic."
Mason knows firsthand how hard it can be to find the right candidates. As former head of people at Yonder, she saw a lot of qualified candidates, but it wasn't always a match in terms of working hours, work environment and other factors.
"I felt bad but I would often tap my employees of color to say, 'Hey, can you give this testimonial for me or meet with this candidate or share your story?'" she said.
With existing job sites, it's often tough to know what the ratings really mean, Mason said.
"You can go on Glassdoor and [a company] could be four out of five. And it seems like it's a great company," she said. "But as a woman or as a person of color or as a parent, I don't know if it's 80% of the men or 80% of the non-POC or 80% of the non-parents who gave it a five and 20% of the rest of the company that is women or that is for people of color or that are parents give it a one."
JobSage gets more granular to look at the five things that matter most to job seekers, she said, producing more meaningful insights in the process. Otherwise, Mason said, candidates typically have to dig deep into their networks in hopes of finding a connection who will share their opinion.
JobSage has landed funding commitments for about $500,000 from 13 angel investors, and it has landed soft commitments from at least one local venture firm, Rios said.
Initially, the biggest challenge for the emerging company is likely online visibility, Patterson said.
"We are competing for eyeballs, and so we're going to have to be really good at executing what we do," he said. "I think we have the right resources and the right team to do it. But that's always a risk. ... Without a large audience, there's not as much value to the community. But so far we've made some great early strides.
He added, "I've been really surprised at how many employers have been receptive."
