"Am I out of touch?... No, it is the children who are wrong" - Principal Skinner - Anonymous employee Sage Employee Review

2.0
Oct 23, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The colour green is nice. - Many of the people that work here at "ground level" are genuinely passionate, kind, lovely people.

Cons

Sage has a very "3 steps forward, 10 steps backward" culture. It's got aspirations to be a forward thinking, modern SaaS company with progressive values - yet , just when you think they've "got it" they come along with internal policies that take us right back into the dark ages of corporate dystopia. Recent changes have brought along a new policy where ALL employee's worldwide are expected to come in 3 days a week, regardless of part-time/condensed hours arrangements. Even so, for full-time employee's that have regained hours of their lives back over the last 4 years from remote work this change is a step in the wrong direction. They've done all this under the guise that they have listened to employee's feedback, and that they "care" about our wellbeing and happiness... but their usual corporate spiel in communicating this to colleagues like we are inept is nothing short of condescending and offensive. It's clear that those at the top are getting itchy over the idea of employees enjoying their lives, no longer wasting our precious short time on this Earth in outdated, call-centre-like offices or enduring 2+ hour commutes each day. This push, like much of what we see in our modern world, feels like an attempt to exert control over employees’ lives post-pandemic. They’ve witnessed how much personal freedom we've reclaimed, and to companies like Sage, that’s seen as a threat. But I can't put it all down to this mindset, it's obvious goals were not met this year and instead of those in control reflecting on their own management decisions they've gone down the "it must be the worker's fault"... a particular Principal Skinner meme comes to mind when I envision those high up reflecting on company performance/policies... "Am I out of touch?... No, it is the children who are wrong".

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Sage Response
1y
We appreciate your feedback and have read through your comments. Please note that our hybrid working approach is an important element of the way we work at Sage that is complemented by other benefits such as paid time to volunteer, the ability to work away for up to 10 weeks a year and free well-being support tools. We recently also answered several colleagues' questions about the new 3-day policy. In doing so, we've shed more light on how colleagues will be supported as they adhere to our updated hybrid structure. More information about what we offer can be found here https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Benefits/Sage-United-Kingdom-Benefits-EI_IE1150.0,4_IL.5,19_IN2.htm - Thanks for taking the time to leave your review. We’ll continue to work hard to improve how we enable colleagues to thrive.

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