Compensation lags behind industry benchmarks, particularly for roles with expanding scope like Customer Success. While expectations increase annually, pay has remained largely stagnant. Public disclosures show the median employee pay was approximately $135,541 in 2022, which is significantly lower than market rates for senior-level SaaS roles.
Executive compensation, by contrast, continues to grow. The CEO earned over $7.7 million in 2022, representing a 57:1 pay ratio compared to the median employee—further widening the perceived gap between leadership and frontline staff.
DEI programs have been materially deprioritized. While the company publicly reports ongoing efforts, ERGs have been repurposed for branding rather than support, and meaningful internal advocacy structures have been quietly dismantled.
Leadership has increasingly prioritized profitability and performance metrics at the expense of sustainability and employee wellbeing. Rising quotas, pressure-driven targets, and resource constraints are common, particularly after recent layoffs and subsequent re-hiring efforts.
Internal operations are deeply fragmented. There is no effective change management, little documentation, and few standardized processes. Despite these issues, leadership continues to frame the company as a “young startup,” though Workiva was founded in 2008 and went public in 2014.
Employees' negative sentiment is rising and morale is low, especially as cultural values once central to the organization are seen as being deprioritized in favor of rapid growth.
