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Rowan

Engaged Employer

Rowan reviews

3.1

50% would recommend to a friend

(84 total reviews)
avatar

Louisa Serene Schneider

47% approve of CEO

45% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.3

Diversity & inclusion

3.3

Career opportunities

3.1

Culture & values

3.1

Compensation and benefits

2.9

Senior management

2.6

Work/Life balance

Rowan has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 84 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Rowan employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Personal Consumer Services industry (3.6 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

84 reviews
1.0
Oct 3, 2021

I still feel queasy

Hq staff member
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Junior staff at HQ are hungry and are putting in a ton of invisible work with a mentality towards learning a lot quickly. I give them a lot of props and hope they can find successful careers outside of this organization.

Cons

The gist: Leadership seems to lack confidence in themselves and lack a clear vision, which manifests as a vicious cycle of employee turnover and poor culture. - Critical Thought Not Wanted: M.O. is for CSuite to parade around incoming top talent hire as saving grace. Once hired, there seems to be little commitment to using that person’s talents and their ideas are quickly dismissed. - Double Edged Sword: you are expected to stroke CSuite ego without question but also take the blame when their questionable strategy flops - Toxic Optimism: pointing out potential pitfalls of a strategy or adding data-based suggestions gets you labeled as “not a team player” - Fear-Mongering Culture: larger systemic issues like poor processes, bad tech, and rushed half-baked strategies are ignored, making change difficult to implement. Instead, individual employees take the blame as scapegoat du jour. - Excessively Demeaning: Meetings are incredibly stressful as comments tossed around can be very hurtful, dismissive, and demeaning Overall, I still feel queasy about my time at Rowan. I continuously felt like doing what I knew to be morally right would result in increased tensions with the CSuite, and that there was no way for me to protect my team from a terrible work culture. In the end, I knew that keeping my head down in order to wait for options to vest was going to feel worse. My only advice: stay away.

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Rowan Response
4y
Hi! Thank you for sharing with us your honest review. While we take pride in the culture we are building at Rowan, we recognize there are areas we can be doing better and your review certainly helps us see where we need to improve. We will focus on improving our processes with a continued focus on vision & strategy, and ensure our employee feedback is incorporated every step of the way. I want to apologize for the negative experiences you had while working at Rowan but want to sincerely thank you for your contributions to the organization. Best of luck in all your future endeavors!
1.0
Oct 3, 2021

This is not your typical start-up

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Rowan is a fast-paced start-up that is growing even faster with their partnerships. You'll get the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented individuals and will wear many hats in your role. You will learn so much about making changes on the fly and quickly pivoting. Rowan is also a company mostly comprised of women, which is a huge plus!

Cons

Rowan seems like a great company on the outside, but once you get in you realize how much is being brushed under the rug and how chaotic it truly is. You'll often hear that the reason for so many problems internally is because we're a start-up. That is not the case here, the problems Rowan is facing are avoidable, and the start-up excuse is used as a scapegoat. The problem is leadership is unable to stay on track for more than 2 weeks before panicking, changing everything, and then blaming employees rather than taking responsibility. Leadership hires top-tier employees and prior to them coming onboard, leadership will speak highly of their achievements, and how these individuals will solve all of Rowan's problems. Once they are a part of the team however, leadership doesn't listen to any of their ideas or recommendations and gets upset with them. Rather than work with them and hear their suggestions, leadership posts their job again, maybe alters the title of the position, and hopes the person they just hired takes the hint and leaves. By the way - they do not pay out your PTO when you leave. Yes, start-ups tend to have "fast-paced environments". Yes, start-ups will have people who "aren't being team players," but there's a common denominator here, and it's not the dozens of employees who have been in and out of this company within a few months, it's the company itself.

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Rowan Response
4y
Hi! Thank you so much for leaving an honest and detailed review of Rowan! We do take immense pride that we are a woman led company! Part of our DNA early, in our company’s lifetime, is pivoting and iterating when changes need to be made. Those are the ingredients of a successful business, and we have been doing that successfully! Where we will continue to focus is communicating changes to our employees and the reasons why. We want our employees to feel empowered to do what they do best and are focusing on this as well. Thank you for all your contributions at Rowan, and your candid feedback here. We wish you nothing but the best!
1.0
Sep 29, 2021

Thoroughly research and think carefully if you decide to join

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-You are able to commiserate with your peers -You will spend time doing and re-doing the same thing over and over

Cons

-Lack of decisive senior leadership -Lack of vision and strategy (there is a mission statement but there's no discernible vision or strategy) -Lack of effective communication -Lack of experienced talent (at all levels) -Toxic work environment and culture (leadership creates and instills a culture of fear and does not tolerate mistakes) -Too many meetings with no actionable outcomes (therefore you will revisit the same topic over and over; sense a consistent theme here?) -No one will look at or use the tools you build; new processes you implement are quickly abandoned -High level of frustration among the junior and mid-level staff and low overall morale -Extremely high turn over in the NY office

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Rowan Response
4y
Hello! Thank you for leaving us a review and for sharing such open and honest feedback. I am sorry that you did not have more positive experiences at Rowan. We will certainly take a closer look at ensuring our mission, vision, and strategy are clearly communicated to all employees, and that meeting times are being used effectively. We will continue to prioritize employee engagement and retention and invite any ideas employees have that will better the culture and experience. Thank you again for your honest review!
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Glassdoor has 89 Rowan reviews submitted anonymously by Rowan employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Rowan is right for you.