Smart people, interesting work, poor culture - Engineering Xero Employee Review

2.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Really smart engineers Access to lots of great tooling including the latest AI tech Interesting work Flexible working

Cons

Loads of technical debt Lots of stuff that is not really owned. Performance is measured on a forced distribution curve and good people get forced out due to subjective assessments. Unless you are highly visible, you won't go anywhere - lots of theatre. Used to talk a lot about values. Now it's just talk about the share price.

Explore other reviews about Xero

5.0
Apr 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture and solid benefits

Cons

Could be a bit chaotic at times

1
1.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Xero has a great product and a lot of very passionate employees who work very hard for their customers.

Cons

The executive leadership at Xero is creating a toxic, backstabbing culture that promotes yes-men at the expense of honest dialogue. It's impossible to make decisions at the company, and multiple rounds of layoffs are leaving all employees shell shocked and fearful. Marketing teams are under-resourced while more demands are constantly being placed on teams to do more. When constraints are communicated, employees are blamed for them, rather that listened to. Multiple colleagues have said the same thing. Additionally, management has instituted a 'rank and yank' policy where everyone is graded on a forced curve, where the bottom quarter are immediately put on a PIP.

7
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