I will start this off by saying that I was fortunate enough to make the decision to leave Glassdoor prior to the mass layoffs. With that being said, my heart is still crushed that this was the path we (yes, I still refer to Glassdoor as 'we' because I will forever be part of it) went down. This was always the plan to reduce the SMB arm and roll it more & more under Indeed. But to completely eliminate the roles of 300 people in one fell swoop and blame it on COVID rather than plan feels like a tacky PR stunt.
When reps that I hired, trained, and managed are reaching out in real-time as it was happening, fear in their voice because they weren't sure if they received the infamous calendar invite, and then tears when they got news that they were axed. They had no one to go to because everyone was in the same boat. It was like a shipwreck in the middle of a dark sea -- no horizon in sight, no one nearby to save them.
Apart from the layoffs, there was several incredibly uncomfortable "situations" in recent years on the management front that should have never happened had proper training & protocol been in place. At a Sales Manager Offsite in ATX, the male leaders grouped together at the evening event to get a group to head to one of the local strip clubs. VPs, Directors, Managers. For (most of) the women there, it was a feeling of "Do I put myself in an uncomfortable and go with them so I can be 'part of the club' or do I stay behind and risk being seen as too immature to hang with the top dogs?" Thankfully, the majority of them decided not to go but how that crossed their minds as something appropriate to propose with their colleagues baffles me. It was the only time in my tenure that I actually felt uncomfortable and disappointed with our leaders and that I could miss out on an "opportunity" to "network" despite the inappropriate nature.
There are other instances, as with any tech company, of relations between manager & rep which led to hostile work environments and, in some cases, fear. There was never retaliation for voicing concerns, but you always knew who knew what and whose side someone was on based on how they interacted with you...including a few leaders (past & present). The org, as it grew, began to feel divided between sides of right and wrong.
