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Leadership has lost the plot

Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Klaviyo for less than 1 year
April 23, 2023
1.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

There is a lot of talent at the individual-contributor level, and many people are great to work with.

Cons

Leadership only cares about IPO and has been cutting costs to juice the books while lying (poorly) about the rationale to employees.

Pay increases are woefully inadequate for the effort they demand, burnout is rampant; and leadership has been told this directly and brushed it off for multiple years at this point.

The company runs on a bunch of early-career folks who don't realize they are being exploited, and who leave for much better jobs once they figure it out.

Leadership structure is entirely top-down: The out-of-touch CEO announces a poorly-considered policy change at an all-hands meeting, then middle management is left scrambling to sort out how that will be implemented while dealing with the fallout from employees.

C-suite turnover is incredibly high, likely because the CEO is a budding megalomaniac who can't talk about much other than his vision and legacy.

Recent layoffs of ~10% of the company, just after giving everyone (except VP+) an effective pay cut, have left morale in the gutter and internal initiatives effectively paralyzed.

Our teams have been asked to volunteer capacity to other teams (teams that had people laid-off) because that work is more important.

I'll let you sort out what that says about how effective leadership is at this company.

On top of that lovely situation, the CEO has mandated that everyone return to the office... so they can sit on zoom calls anyway because half the company is permanently remote.

Avoid this place at all costs - they are always hiring because attrition is immense and you'll just keep getting more work without any pay increase while leadership shuffles dollars around to get their big IPO paycheck.

Advice to Management

You are not paying enough. For 3 years engineers have been telling you that burnout is rampant, and somehow layoffs (without adjusting the roadmap) and mandatory commutes are going to fix that? Anyone with more than a year of experience is headed to the exit.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
1.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
1.0
Career Opportunities
1.0
Compensation and Benefits
1.0
Senior Management
1.0

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