Lovevery reviews

3.7

66% would recommend to a friend

(92 total reviews)
avatar

Jessica Rolph and Roderick Morris

62% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

Lovevery has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 92 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Lovevery employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

92 reviews
1.0
Feb 16, 2021

Toxic Work Culture, Definitely NOT Family Friendly Company

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. Cool downtown office space, cute on site gym and nice showers. 2. They make cool products. 3. There are great people that work here, but they can't succeed like they would at a decent company without the toxic work culture.

Cons

Lovevery is a super successful, growing company and it just goes to show that toxic work culture exists even at the most successful companies. For me, the biggest factor was fear of the boss. Employees are micromanaged to the degree that it can make you anxious and nervous to even press send on a simple email or answer a phone call. Never mind feeling comfortable to express your ideas or speak up when wrong decisions are being made. If you have a work background where you think you can contribute, don't bother as they won't let you share your previous experience; in fact, they don't even want you to mention where you previously worked. Titles are extremely important - I can't tell you how many times I was told not to do that task because it was below my pay grade or enabling a fellow coworker. This totally eliminates any teamwork or cross collaboration from happening - everyone is out to do it themselves in a way that is exactly aligned with the cofounders' way of doing things. And forget about being mentored or given a mentor even when requested. As I was just trying to fit in I requested someone to bond with (who wasn't my boss) and that was frowned upon as worthless since startups don't have time for that. You would think startups would want you to grow so you can contribute even more, but not at Lovevery. This probably stems back to being micromanaged - since you are basically told how to do things, why would you need to grow? The unspoken rules are suffocating. There is no work/life balance. For the cofounders it is all about work. It was frowned upon to leave before 6pm regardless of how much work you get done and same goes for taking a lunch hour - you need to stay in the office. If you have sick kids at home, they'll help you to find options to care for them, but not let you work from home. This is almost unbelievable since people with young kids is the heart of their market. I honestly became depressed working at Lovevery. All the confidence and energy I had built up during my previous work experiences was gone. I felt like such a failure for not thriving at such a successful startup. When I announced I was leaving to my manager, I was told not to tell my employees - that my manager would be the one to tell them. I knew I had made the right decision. And when word of my departure started to spread, the amount of people that also felt the same way was incredible - I was not alone. Even as I type this I find myself bonding with whoever wrote a previous similar review here on Glassdoor. If you're considering a position at Lovevery because it's a super successful business and it sounds like it would have a family friendly fun environment to work in, you will be sorely disappointed.

avatar
Lovevery Response
3y
Thank you for your feedback and we are sorry to hear you didn't have a positive experience. Leadership can be under quite a bit of pressure and several are working through coaching to improve communication with teammates and employees. We encourage you to provide further feedback offline and welcome the opportunity to discuss confidentially with our Talent and Culture team.
1.0
Dec 8, 2020

Poor Leadership, Poor Culture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. If you have a child under the age of 5, you can get some Lovevery products for them for free. 2. They take pride in paying market rate base salary (although their health benefits aren't great - not a lot of coverage in the policies, and no 401k match) 3. Customers really do seem to love the toys and products. It’s great working for a company that people actually love the product instead of just offering a product people HAVE to use or use but don't really love. 4. They are a business who has benefited well through the Covid-19 pandemic. More people are buying toys for their kids now that they're home with them, so there's a decent amount of stability while working there.

Cons

1. Lack of strong Leadership. (Fear based environment, almost all decisions made top down, they don’t trust individual contributors so they micromanage constantly, middle management and individual contributors are both afraid to stand up to cofounder(s) most often). 2. Lack of Mentorship/Growth/Development. (Don't expect to be coached and mentored here. Managers and leadership are doing their best to stay afloat, stay employed, and juggle too many things on their plate that they just don't have the time to invest in their employees' growth and development. Hopefully this has to do with the stage of the company and not a gap in the skillset of the managers/leadership that has been hired. Also, if you aren't doing something well enough, they will hire someone over you to take your job from you instead of coaching you or helping you grow in a role one size bigger. In my time at Lovevery I saw this happen to two people, including someone being asked to give their title back, so the new person could have their title). 3. Lack of stated values put into practice. (The perception from employees and what has been shown is that Diversity and Inclusion is only a 'priority' because of the Black Lives Matter movement, not because it's genuinely important to leadership. A specific leader has made racist remarks on Slack to individual employees. Leadership has gotten upset when someone is pregnant and has to take time off, which is backwards when you're a company focused on families. It's said that an on open feedback environment is valued, but feedback is either given behind someone’s back or in a badgering way, needless to say this is not constructive in either scenario). 4. Lack of Stated Priorities. (Expects teams to deliver on all things all the time and perception from employees is that you have to do it perfectly the first time. It's not acceptable to make mistakes and is not a 'learning' culture. Their employees are NOT a priority. When decisions change all of a sudden, they’ve told teams executing on their decision to ‘figure it out’ and to make their employees work through company and national holidays to get it done if they care about delivering for the business - a bit of a death march.) 5. Lack of Collaboration (This one is simple - although some individuals make a strong effort to collaborate across teams, which is appreciated, quite a few critical individuals lack collaboration and want to tell other teams what to do for them, as a 'service' to their own department.)

avatar
Lovevery Response
5y
Thank you for taking the time to provide a review. We are sorry to hear that you didn’t have an ideal experience and appreciate your perspective and feedback. We also wish you the best on your next professional endeavor. We truly want our employees to have one of their best career journeys at Lovevery. We believe our total compensation is competitive, enabling us to recruit top talent for all positions based in our Idaho, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong offices, as well as remote positions. While Lovevery does administer a 401k plan, we are proud to offer stock options to all full-time employees in lieu of a 401k match. We also offer a substantial maternity and paternity leave package, childcare support, commuter benefits, mental health benefits, and generous PTO. Having a growth mindset and passion for learning is a core value at Lovevery. We provide coaching and training to our employees in support of growth opportunities and promotions. There are multiple examples of leaders and managers who have seen their role seniority and scope of responsibility grow across the organization, with recent examples in product development, software engineering, marketing and customer experience. We also share goals, metrics, and praise individual and team progress in regular OKR sessions and other all company meetings that occur several times a month. We value inclusivity and follow up seriously on any unprofessional behavior that threatens an inclusive and collaborative culture. We strive to provide an environment where our people feel valued, have autonomy to do their best work, are treated fairly, respected and heard. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to this work and have been since the company was founded. We encourage you to provide further feedback offline and welcome the opportunity to discuss confidentially with our HR team.
2.0
Aug 31, 2023

Low Pay, Bad Management, Lack of Transparency

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The kind, friendly and passionate people I worked with each day are why I stayed as long as I did. Getting a free subscription and a generous employee gifting stipend was another nice perk.

Cons

Low Pay - Lovevery needs to take a look at what other companies are paying for comparable positions and adjust accordingly. Not only is pay not competitive, but the lack of raises and transparency surrounding when/if raises are given is extremely concerning. Bad Management - the lack of experience among those in management/leadership positions at Lovevery is baffling. Many of these people are completely out of their depth and it's clear they do not know how to manage a group of people successfully. Many of them are micromanagers. They get by doing the bare minimum and their jobs do not seem to be at risk, even if they are doing a poor job. Poor management is a huge retention risk for the company and they should really be more thoughtful about who they place in these positions since it directly affects those who have to report to these people. Lack of Transparency - Lovevery prides itself on transparency and I can guarantee you its a buzzword that gets tossed around in meetings, and nothing more. Aside from the co-founders assuring people in OKRs that the company is doing just fine, you will never see actual numbers regarding the company's financial health or profitability. In addition to this, there is a significant lack of staffing in several departments and no real plans to hire or any transparency offered when you ask management about plans to hire, almost as if they are unsure themselves and have nothing to do with the decision. In most departments 1 person, is doing the job of 3 for a low, uncompetitive salary. Decisions are made from the very top and your feedback as an individual employee is very rarely taken into consideration, yet they have somehow convinced people that they are super transparent and care about the individual employee. The reality is that Lovevery has become corporate and only cares about making more money and the bottom line. People stay because they are passionate and accept the low pay because they think they are making a difference for families. My advice: Know your worth/value as an employee and demand more from your employer, not less. Don't let a company take advantage of you, even if what they are doing seems kind of cool.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 92 Reviews

Glassdoor has 99 Lovevery reviews submitted anonymously by Lovevery employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Lovevery is right for you.