Hmmm... Where to start.
I could develop an INCREDIBLY lengthy list of things that I found wrong with working at this company, but ultimately I believe that most of this negativity falls on management's shoulders. If you read through some other reviews, you'll start to notice a pattern with this.
Management at Yelp is (for the most part) young , inexperienced, and essentially brought into a "leadership" role to serve as the directors' minions for brainwashing and creating almost a cult-like environment. The second that you speak up against what is communicated as the "big picture" (We are here to help our clients change their businesses and lives! We are helping people! We are so amazing and our culture is amazing and we love how transparent and open we are!!) - even if it's just a suggestion for management to do something different or approach something from another angle - you immediately become a target. You will be scrutinized day in and day out about whether or not you truly "want to be there", about what "motivates you", etc. Management is taught to "lead" by creating what they think are in-the-weeds relationships with their people, when in reality it's uncomfortable and unnecessary. There is no reason for management to ask the amount of personal questions that they do. It doesn't foster closeness, it just makes your reps uneasy. That feedback appears over and over in these reviews, and yet, as a former employee, I know that it was never taken to heart.
Additionally, what doesn't help is that the leadership and management teams absolutely refuse to acknowledge the fact that there simply will always be people in those seats that do it as a 9-5 job. And to them, that's what this is - a J O B. And that should be okay!! But at Yelp, it is not. Those are the targeted people. Those are the ones who are constantly harassed by management and leadership, being asked about what their "real" aspirations are, what motivates them... It isn't to build a relationship, it's to weed out everyone there that isn't spending all day drinking the Yelp koolaid. It doesn't matter if you happen to be a strong performer - if you don't make it incredibly obvious after Month 1 that you are there to grow for the rest of your life, it isn't too long before it starts going downhill for you. During my entire time at Yelp, I had a giant problem with that. It's not all that difficult to wrap your head around the fact that for some people, spending 8 hours a day talking to often-angry business owners isn't always going to spark a career path motivation for everyone. But, to management, those people are "toxic" and need to be replaced. You are Yelp and you will never have a problem replacing people by bringing in recent college grads - but with the way management conducts itself at Yelp, those people will keep cycling in and out every few years and if you keep going this route, you will never achieve the tight-knit, honest culture you are so badly after.
Lastly, it amazed me how closely everyone was watched. There was a point at one time where lunches were no longer taken whenever one would like, but rather assigned and you had no choice but to take it then, other than to trade with someone else. Breaks were heavily monitored. If you took a break at 11 am after making decent activity it was still almost guaranteed that you'd be spoken to about whether or not a break at that time was truly the best decision for you. Having been out of this environment for quite some time now, it really does amaze me that back at Yelp, I thought this was the norm. Then I stepped into the real world... And other mature companies DO NOT operate this way nor do they treat their employees like kindergarten children.
