- The company is going through growing pains much like Tesla did years ago. This has resulted in many challenges around building vehicles at scale. As such, stress levels are high and with the company constantly talked about by Wall Street, it can negatively affect employees.
- Company grew way too fast during COVID and it resulted in many duplicate roles. It was difficult to understand what certain people did because their title was exactly the same as others yet they didn’t provide the same value.
- Too many levels of management. This follows on from the above point. With so many new hires and different orgs, it resulted in too many levels of management. In order to get a simple request approved, it may need to go through 5 different people. The structure needs to be flattened to improve efficiency.
- Lack of accountability. During my time, there was a complete lack of accountability from employees, especially executives. If something didn’t go right or a process failed, no one would own up to it and try to find a solution. Instead, excuses were made and fingers were pointed. This was evident on many earnings calls when executives would blame certain organizations (usually supply chain) for why the company missed its targets. It was always someone else’s fault. It was also challenging to get in contact with any executives even if they were designated as the “project sponsor”. It was as if they were living in a different world than everyone else.
- Obsession with being the “opposite of Tesla”. It was a bit odd because so many employees were poached from Tesla and clearly Tesla laid the blueprint for how things can be done as a new auto manufacturer. Sure, being different can be a good thing, but Rivian kept making the same mistakes that Tesla did. Whether it was trying to provide a “white glove” set is for deliveries (Tesla did this then cut it after it became unsustainable) or providing too ambitious of production targets, Rivian seemed to make the same mistakes. In a way, it was as though they didn’t want to say “good job” to Tesla and instead tried to do the exact opposite, until they didn’t. There were even Slack channels where people would constantly post negative articles about Tesla and people would pile on with comments. It was a weird obsession and didn’t make sense because Rivian was nowhere near the level of Tesla or other auto manufacturers. I assume most of these people jumped to Rivian pre-IPO after being at Tesla or other companies where their RSUs fully vested. So this was a chance to get onboard another “rocket ship”.
- While the company prides itself on being sustainable, it’s sadly far from the truth. Simply building an EV doesn’t make the company sustainable because there’s so much that goes into building the EV. Yet Rivian believed that it was being a green leader simply by producing EVs. When it came time to discuss ways to reduce the impact throughout the supply chain or at offices, there was a lot of resistance. There was also no appetite to spend more money on sustainable solutions. Still, the company had no problem announcing partnerships and classes around sustainability. In a way, it was a form of greenwashing.
