My working experience has not just been far from positive, it was the worst of my career and it’s not even comparable. The Founders (CEO and COO) at BetterUp are a major issue. They lack the experience, humility and curiosity to leverage their teams, provide a structured vision and strategy or take any feedback at all. You can certainly not challenge them professionally; it will not be tolerated. This has created a toxic work environment where open communication and trust are sorely lacking. The lack of psychological safety is particularly concerning, as employees often feel unable to voice their thoughts or concerns without fear of retribution.
To give you an idea about the toxic work environment I referenced, consider these two examples. First, I was encouraged by management to do a fake review on Glassdoor to help boost the CEO’s and the companies rating. I was told it was encouraged, I did not have to, but that I should let my manager know when it was done. Per several of the other reviews on Glassdoor, I would really question the validity of the recent volume of 5.0 reviews that are lacking in structure, thought and content (a handful of words…). I would not be surprised if again they were ‘asked for’ by management. Look at the most recent April 1st review with a 5.0. In advice to management, they said “People are burned out and afraid to say it”. This is a 5.0? It further says, “employees with young families don’t feel they can take care of them while working here.” This is not my review, but a 5.0 review of the company. Really? People, please read between the lines.
The second example, which to me is far more alarming; the company purposely and thoughtfully has created an internal rating and performance system that makes it difficult to achieve a ‘successfully meets’ on your review. In fact, I was asked to use a bell curve to ensure most of my team was not successfully meeting their job function. Yikes! This creates an environment where job security is a constant worry, with frequent layoffs and a lack of transparency regarding employment stability. The company went through three rounds of layoffs in just over my year. Speaking of retention, The Founders cannot keep true executive leaders at the company because they either challenge the status-quo or threaten them because they have the gravitas and experience to truly lead and inspire. There has been a revolving door of the C-suite for years. Again, ask yourself, if this is company is on the right track does much of the C-suite leave?
When you move beyond culture, you land on the business model itself. The company is providing coaching services yet has positioned itself as a SaaS company. The CEO even jokes openly on all-hands calls that everyone knows it is SaaSy, not SaaS, yet the employees are held accountable to a SaaS business model. These things are incongruent. This manifests itself in the work-life balance and results. The work-life balance at BetterUp is extremely poor. The demands of the job are excessive, leading to high levels of stress and burnout. This is not because it is a start-up, it is 12 years old! It is because the business model is broken, and the leadership is lost. Employees often feel overworked and undervalued, which significantly impacts their overall well-being. This is exasperated by the crazy amount of ‘readings’ you are asked to do on your own time (after hours) which can take 5 hours a week. Not to mention the applicability of these readings as the Founders try to compare BetterUp to some of the greatest tech leaders of our time (Intel, Amazon, ServiceNow/Snowflake…). It is outright laughable. I personally was on a mandatory 90-minute reading review session on the last day of the quarter. OMG.
