Everything has been going downhill since layoffs in 2023, but the dam burst at the end of 2024 when the CEO announced that the company would be going back into the office full time in 2025. Regardless of an individual's opinions on working from the office, this loss of flexibility is incredibly unpopular and has resulted in many significant departures. Employees with long tenure at the company have been leaving on a regular basis, which in turn has contributed to increased stress among those still remaining, since Appian is refusing to backfill many of these new vacancies with experienced hires.
There's plenty of hypocrisy from leadership in the messaging from leadership, not just concerning RTO, though that is understandably a large factor. Leadership claims to understand how disruptive unpopular decisions like these are, but never incorporates employee feedback into any of this decision-making, nor do they make changes once a decision is made. It's a shocking level of obstinacy and shortsightedness from a company that claims to value culture and agility. These decisions would be understandable at a big corporation that is already a market leader, but Appian is still trying to prove itself against its competitors which have a major leg up on us in terms of capital and market share. Treating our intelligent employees poorly will force them to leave, making it impossible for our product to compete in the market.
Appian may be in a better financial situation now than it was in 2023, but it has come at the cost of many talented individuals leaving for companies that offer better compensation, more working flexibility, or both. The environment only continues to grow more stressful, and a breaking point will be reached sooner rather than later if leadership does nothing to address employees' concerns and stop the outflow of top talent.
