A GPS company that has lost its way - Senior UX Manager Zonar Systems Employee Review

2.0
Jul 23, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked at Zonar for about 9 years. I started as a contractor and worked my way up to a senior manager, so there was definitely opportunities to advance within your career (at least before the "merger" with GPS Trackit). I got to work with amazingly talented people to solve complex problems that had a real impact on making our customers' lives easier and safer. Remote work was the norm since March of 2020, allowing for a good work / life balance without sacrificing collaboration.

Cons

Even before Zonar was purchased by GPS Trackit there were some major red flags. The workplace was occasionally hostile, and I personally experienced several instances of bullying by management. Senior leadership lacked a strategic vision beyond "increase revenue," and wanted to be everything to everyone. Product features were often forced to change due to contractual commitments made by Sales without considering existing roadmaps, hampering innovation and iterative improvement. Because every team was overburdened with work, product MVPs became the default final product. Teams were forced to move on to the next thing, rather than improving what had previously been released. Design was always an afterthought, and was frequently left out of decision making processes. Even just ensuring designers were included in roadmap planning was a fight. The new CEO seemed dismissive of concerns, and GPS Trackit senior leadership ignored my team's attempts to work with them during the transition.

Explore other reviews about Zonar Systems

5.0
Jun 18, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Love the Energy Work Remote Reorg is painful, but future is bright

Cons

Work Remote. Its a plus and a negative as it is sometimes hard to build camaraderie.

1.0
Jun 11, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are still some genuinely good people at Zonar. A lot of talented, hard-working employees are still trying to do right by the customers and keep things moving despite everything going on around them. At one point, Zonar had a strong identity and a real place in the pupil transportation space. The company understood school bus and student transportation customers in a way that not many others did, and that history is still something worth acknowledging.

Cons

Zonar is not the company it used to be. Over the last several years, the company has been gutted by waves of layoffs, constant restructuring, outsourcing, and leadership decisions that rarely seem to make sense to the people actually doing the work. Morale has been destroyed. Teams have been cut down over and over again, and employees are expected to keep delivering with fewer people, less support, and no clear direction. One of the biggest mistakes was refusing to innovate and abandoning the pupil transportation customers that made Zonar what it was. Those customers were the foundation of the company. Instead of continuing to invest in that space, leadership seemed to lose interest and chase whatever new direction sounded good at the time. Those customers took the hint and started leaving too. The company now feels like it has no real product direction. Instead of building strong Zonar products, it feels like a bunch of other companies’ products have been white-labeled, stapled together, and sold as one platform. Internally, it is confusing. Externally, customers can see it too. A lot of work has also been shifted offshore, especially to Colombia. That may save money on paper, but it has also come with the loss of experienced employees, lost institutional knowledge, and a general feeling that the company is being dismantled instead of rebuilt. Leadership is also a huge part of the problem. The CEO’s direction feels erratic, short-sighted, and disconnected from what employees and customers are actually experiencing. The focus seems to be on cutting costs and chasing whatever looks good in the moment, not on building a stable company or supporting the people who kept it alive for years. Good employees can only hold things together for so long when the strategy is broken, the culture is gone, and the customer base that built the company has been pushed away.

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