Pros: 1. Free food and a bit of free snacks. 2. Small library in the office.

Cons: One of the most toxic places to work. I joined Checkout without trusting the bad reviews on Glassdoor. I regretted it. Most of the managers I have seen are super toxic. The company has introduced "Operating Principles" which makes it easy for managers to insult and bully people. 1. Operating principle "Talk Straight": This OP allows any manager to insult any of their directs in the name of talking straight. The culture is the opposite of a no-blame culture. If you do anything wrong, you would be named and shamed. 2. Operating principle "Athletic mindset": This is a fake mindset of being athletic. The pace of actual delivery is actually much slower than it should be. It is because of too much focus on just shipping new features to sell instead of maintaining the current product. If anything breaks, then it's your fault. 3. People bloat up their story points. There is a lot of dirty politics in almost all of the teams. Promotions strictly happen based on who you are friends with. If you are not in the good books of the C-suite or directors, then you would not be promoted. 4. The company is doing really good financially, but they do not want to give any bonuses at all. The increments are much lower than the current inflation, even at good ratings. The Glassdoor ratings went as low as 3.1 in 2024. The CEO made a push to "improve" the ratings. Suddenly there was an influx of super positive "5-star" ratings, and the current Glassdoor rating is an unbelievable 4.1. I do not know how they managed to add so many 5-star reviews, where most of the people in the company rate the company super low in internal Peakon surveys. tldr: Sort the Glassdoor reviews from low to high. Trust the ones which are low rated. They are probably not fake reviews. They truly talk about what I experienced at Checkout.com. Trust them and stay away from the company.

Pros: The recent work from elsewhere policy, with a 2 consecutive week allowance per calendar year… (only 2 weeks, really?)

Cons: A futile cycle of frequent Peakon surveys, conducted with no tangible outcomes and the employees' feedback seemingly vanishing into thin air. Allegedly, these insights are merely regarded as symbolic gestures (“signals”), acted upon only if deemed suitable. This prompts the question: why invest my time in sharing my thoughts if they are destined to remain unheeded? Mandating a return to the office for three days weekly, disregarding employees' persistent objections and regardless of the overwhelming cascade of negative feedback repeatedly expressed in surveys. These concerns, once voiced, seem to dissolve into obscurity, neither acknowledged nor communicated. This directive impacts individuals with family responsibilities or those hired during the pandemic living outside London. Such employees are coerced to either resume in-person work or confront the grim alternatives of resignation or layoff, a stark reminder of their expendability. The CEO used to be engaged, attentive, and friendly, but lately, he has become apathetic, seemingly driven solely by his ego. He is ignoring everyone around him and isn't taking their opinions into account anymore. The executive team is going along with whatever he says, without considering any feedback from the 2,000 employees. It is a far cry from his earlier stance that the company's strength lies in its employees. Now, he is all about putting customers/merchants first, showing a clear shift in his behavior and priorities. The frequency of layoffs has fostered an atmosphere of perpetual uncertainty, where one's professional fate hangs in the balance day by day. The unpredictable nature of tomorrow's prospects, coupled with the absence of job security, stems from the unceasing waves of organizational reshuffling and restructuring. These changes, driven by a desire to optimize financial statements for investors amidst the tumultuous economic backdrop, have inadvertently transformed the workforce into subjects of an ongoing cost-saving experiment, rather than nurturing an environment of stability and growth.

Pros: Good tech stack in many places, since they are upgrading a lot of their tooling.

Cons: The company adopted an American style of working. After COVID, it was 1 day/week in the office. The last update was 3 days/week. I can expect they will go back to 4 days before the end of the year since management seemed in need of control.