Top down rot - Anonymous employee Scribd Inc. Employee Review

1.0
Apr 13, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High-level mission is powerful and engaging and attracts aspiration talent- unfortunately does not actualize at any level due to leadership

Cons

Most top-down HIPPO (highest paid persons opinion) driven organization structure I've encountered in over a decade in software Insane levels of micromanagement + hostile workplace environment, particularly over Slack (company at one point had a wall of shame) Dev team intentionally sandbagged estimates in response to this environment because the culture rewarded shipping anything "on time" over shipping great product - as a result, teams walked on egg shells to underpromise and ship minimum quality work rather than feeling empowered to set ambitious goals and strive to deliver on them

Explore other reviews about Scribd Inc.

5.0
Nov 12, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good culture, great work and highly recommended, remote first

Cons

no annual stock grants or refereshers. It is once in two year thing.

1
5.0
Aug 18, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Competitive Salary & Benefits for a tech company of its size. - A great people team that truly actually tries to make the company a more fun and supportive place to work. - Fun offsites / onsites for team building. - Solid work-life balance, generally flexible. - Bonus structure (if you qualify) is very generous. - Work feels meaningful, you get to work on a product that helps people learn and develop every day. - Lots of internal promotions (depending on your team) - The work really never gets boring, it is fast-paced but not chaotic, like some earlier stage startups can be. Scribd has been around for awhile and is well-structured internally. - Not reliant on funding any longer which takes off a lot of stress.

Cons

- The audiobook space is tough to crack, and a lot of effort has gone into projects that haven’t quite materialized. - User acquisition is very reliant on SEO, which results in volatility often out of anyone’s control. - There could be more transparency on when people leave or get let go, often times you don’t know someone is gone until you go to message them and they are de-activated. - The annual raises could use some flexibility, 2% doesn’t keep up with inflation these days. - Growth has been lagging, which can put a lot of stress on everyone.

1
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All