Ancestry reviews

3.5

52% would recommend to a friend

(786 total reviews)
avatar

Howard Hochhauser

80% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

Ancestry has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 786 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Ancestry employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

786 reviews
1.0
Jan 19, 2024

Tenuous at best

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

VP only concern is cost, so no pressures to deliver on other objectives. Time to learn new things or sit back and focus on that one org objective at a time.

Cons

Big monkey: own market and know it. Lost drive to lead and innovate. VP's spend thousands to save 20 in operational costs. Say "Act like owner", but don't speak up, you'll get chopped.

1.0
Jun 29, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people on the ground that individually have an interest in user and value add.

Cons

Leaders are administrators, not knowledge experts in so many cases. Focus is on profit, not customer, but due to segment they are profitable; but it's not due to solid exec leadership; they just get the benefits of nature of business. They also get the big compensation, not the employees. Typical Blackstone approach which long term CFO supports, pacify employees and tell them they should feel honored to work here, but compensation doesn't come near industry standard. New employees have much better salary and bonus than existing who have built company. Some things getting better, others not. Approaching another round of chaos within, with lack of crisp Product leadership, trying to find new ways to milk customers rather than focusing on being leading product. We have most data, so largest market share, and arrogant mindset that will lead to others taking market in time. Just wish leaders where leaders, not administrators making things look good so they can get their bonus and eventually leave. We have something great, but kick out those that know domain and bring in the elite and enlightened who bring in different approaches, so we're always changing and seldom delivering. Very patient customers and some great experiences they have keep us alive.

1.0
Mar 2, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They are performing very well and know that DNA will slow down at some point so they are implementing strategies to continue to grow without too risky of moves.

Cons

Archaic systems and nobody wants to fix the problem. They just have a "why bother" attitude. A company survey showed that 40% approve of the C-suite, 35% think they will actually fix the problems, and 35% believe they will take action from the survey results. It is really difficult to be motivated with such poor leadership and making decisions to implement broken systems to get your job done.

Viewing 52 - 54 of 786 Reviews

Glassdoor has 910 Ancestry reviews submitted anonymously by Ancestry employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Ancestry is right for you.