Dropbox

CEO seems still in touch with what's realistically feasible with AI. Stock price is pretty steady. Communication culture is respectful when there are disagreements. Coworkers are collaborative and supportive. Spring 2023 layoffs appeared to be handled compassionately.

At the end of June 2023, they announced that starting for any babies born 1/1/24, the parental leave benefit changed.

Previously, it was 24 weeks paid at 100% for all caregivers, to all full-time employees regardless of tenure (equitable between genders, generous for a U.S.-based employer, attractive to new hires).

Now, it is 20 weeks paid for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, subject to a tenure requirement of at least 1 year.

The reasoning given was that they are "operating in a more demanding environment. Rather than making lots of little cuts across our benefits, or taking actions that other companies have taken like freezing comp increases or promotions, [the CEO] decided to bring our parental leave policy more in line with our peers."

To me, this is self-evidently a terrible decision for employee morale. I am extremely skeptical that the costs saved would have a significant effect on the risk of further layoffs in the future.

I warn potential candidates about it in every informational interview I have done since then.

Even though this policy change doesn't affect me directly, it makes me think that no one in the leadership team "gets it" for actually supporting employees having lives outside of work.