A Chicago Startup Built AI That Monitors Every Work Email and Slack Message. Workers Are Asking For It.
CHICAGO, IL — [December 8th, 2025] — PerformanceX AI launched this month with a product most employees should hate: a platform that monitors every email, Slack message, recorded call, and meeting across a company. But something unexpected happened. Workers started asking for it.
“We expected backlash,” said Codrin Arsene, Co-founder of PerformanceX. “Instead, we got messages from employees saying, ‘How do I get my boss to use this?’ They’re tired of watching the guy who talks big but does not deliver. They want proof that they’re the ones doing the work.”
PerformanceX is headquartered in Chicago and built for the types of companies that drive the city’s economy, including agencies, law firms, HVAC businesses, consulting firms, and PE-backed roll-ups. The platform connects to workplace tools like Gmail, Slack, Zoom, and phone recordings, then scores every employee based on what they actually did, not what they claimed to have done. Every score is measured against their job description and the company’s own standards.
Chicago Leaders Knew. They Just Couldn’t Prove It.
Across the city, business owners share the same frustration: they sense something is wrong but have no evidence to act. A client stops responding. A project slips. An employee seems checked out. By the time the president hears about it, the damage is already done.
A Chicago marketing firm knew something was wrong, but couldn’t prove it. PerformanceX showed them: a VP they trusted was making their employees miserable. Dismissive replies. Public blame. Credit theft. The evidence was in emails, Slack, calls, and meeting notes. Once he was removed, turnover dropped from 30 percent to 4 percent. Revenue climbed 22 percent.
“These failures don’t show up in status meetings,” Arsene said. “They show up in messages leaders never see. We make them visible.”
What Each Monday PerformanceX Report Reveals
Every Monday at 6AM, PerformanceX delivers a scorecard to every employee and manager showing:
- Performance Score (0–100)
- Wins Worth Repeating, with the actual message and timestamp
- Opportunities to Level Up, with the exact email or call that triggered it
- Try This Instead, a rewrite of what they should have said
- Three Focus Areas for the week ahead
Managers and employees see the same evidence. No guessing. No politics. Just proof.
Chicago Companies Finding What They Couldn’t See
An HVAC company discovered which technicians were actually saving customer relationships, and which ones were costing them.
A Chicago law firm identified an associate whose communication style was driving staff turnover. The evidence was in the messages.
A Near North Side hospitality group learned that one manager was responsible for 62 percent of customer complaints. Replacing him cut the number of negative reviews in half.
One company found that its top four sales reps were cherry-picking easy deals while an intake representative rescued nearly every abandoned opportunity. After the VP of Sales received the first report, he promoted the intake rep. Revenue grew 38 percent in 9 months.
Not Surveillance. Visibility.
PerformanceX draws a line between watching employees and understanding teams. It does not track keystrokes, take screenshots, or touch personal devices. It analyzes data from the communication tools companies already own and shows what’s working, what’s not, and what to fix.
Privacy advocates have raised concerns about analyzing workplace communications. Some companies testing the platform withdrew from the pilot, citing cultural resistance. PerformanceX estimates 10 to 15 percent of companies will reject the product on principle.
“We’re not for everyone,” Arsene said. “But here’s what we’ve found: it’s not just executives who want this. Workers want their contributions on the record. They want proof before the wrong person gets the promotion.”
How It Works
The process starts with access: email, Slack, Zoom, and phone recordings. In parallel, the PerformanceX team gathers job descriptions, org charts, and leadership’s definition of what ‘good’ looks like. The AI generates reports from the first week of real data. Leadership reviews, adjusts, and approves. Then it runs on autopilot.
Setup takes about 15 minutes for the technical connection. Full deployment happens in four weeks.
Pricing
Every company starts with a Test Drive: five employees in one department. $1,749 setup. Then PerformanceX charges a flat fee of $14 per employee per month.
From there, PerformanceX expands department by department. Each rollout costs $2,500 to $20,000, depending on complexity and the size of a company.
Want proof first? Pick two employees. PerformanceX analyzes 12 months of their communications and delivers complete reports in 48 hours. No cost. No commitment.
More information at performancex.ai or +1 (888) 468-1170.
About PerformanceX
PerformanceX is headquartered in Chicago and built for companies with 10 to 50 employees. The platform shows leaders who delivers, who doesn’t, and who’s about to leave. Names, timestamps, and evidence. Weekly. Automatically.
