Unstable Leadership, Poor Culture, and High Burnout
Pros
Many employees are kind, collaborative, and genuinely trying to support one another. There are many talented people that work there. The Santa Clara office offers some strong perks for employees, aside from the required hybrid work schedule. Medical benefits are good overall. However, some other benefits have been scaled back over time, including things like parental leave and employee appreciation days.
Cons
Senior leadership has been highly unstable, and the level of executive turnover has created a lot of uncertainty across the organization. In the first five months of 2026 alone, several senior leaders have left, including the CFO, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Customer Officer, and Sales Leader for Europe and Asia. Strong leaders often seem to either leave or be pushed out, and the company has struggled to replace them with leaders who create stability, trust, and a healthy operating environment. The culture is one of the biggest issues. In my experience, the environment is stressful, fear-based, and often unhealthy. Employees regularly talk quietly about the impact the culture has had on their mental health and overall well-being. Work-life balance is poor, and there is an expectation that people should be available around the clock, often without a clear business reason. Job security is also frequently used as a threat, which creates fear rather than accountability. The return-to-office policy has also been handled poorly. Employees were required to return regardless of whether it made sense for their role, team, commute, or productivity. Some employees are commuting two or more hours several days a week, with little evidence that the policy improves collaboration or business outcomes. The culture also feels highly blame-oriented. Instead of encouraging transparency, accountability, and problem-solving, the environment often causes people to protect themselves, shift blame, and avoid taking risks. This creates a lack of trust and makes it difficult to do good work. I would also encourage candidates to read the Glassdoor reviews carefully and pay attention to patterns over time. The company’s rating appears to have improved significantly in a short period of time, but many of the newer positive reviews feel repetitive and seem to directly counter themes raised in negative reviews. In my opinion, candidates should look beyond the overall rating and read both positive and negative reviews closely. There are also concerns about diversity and inclusion. Based on what I observed, hiring and representation do not appear to be balanced across all groups, and the employee experience may vary significantly depending on background, team, and leadership chain. Candidates should ask direct questions about diversity, promotion, leadership representation, and how inclusion is actually measured. The founding CEO also appears less engaged with Eightfold than in prior years, and more focused on his other startup. Given the company’s leadership turnover, culture concerns, and ongoing legal and business challenges, this raises questions about long-term outlook.
