Zapier

Smart, talented, empathetic coworkers. Transparent. Good future outlook.

Generally well-intentioned policies, though execution can suffer.

Tries to do too much at once and pivots too often in pursuit of growth. A sense of burnout from individuals on understaffed teams and managers with too many direct reports. It can feel like there's indifference toward that burnout, toward allocating staff, and toward employee retention. This felt especially unpleasant as a longer-term employee with consistently solid performance reviews.

Zapier has thoughtful values and policies, but how they're carried out doesn't always reflect them. Too much responsibility is placed upon individuals to recognize and address issues, but that isn't always feasible, especially when the issues are embedded within the culture.

With Zapier's success, it can change any of these things if it wants to. And now that many of the benefits it offers are industry standards and are no longer particularly unique, it has the opportunity to set itself apart again by rethinking work at a more fundamental level.