Lack of accountability - Software Engineer Personio Employee Review

2.0
Oct 31, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The salary is still slightly higher than other startups.

Cons

The company leadership has a lack of accountability: every now and then they say things will change and get better, but they only know how to blame the employees. Every change that happens goes at the employees level but the leadership changes nothing. The company was able to hire good leaders in the past, but they all left and the remaining ones are quite lost. The bureaucracy is very German-like, changes are impossible to happen and everything moves slowly. The company domain is very specific and complex, but still the company favors new people over the existing ones. New people have no proper onboarding because there is no one to do it. Promotions are very hard, you need to put so much effort that it seem impossible. You need to get a sponsor and hope they can “sell” you good enough for the leadership. But the real issue is that they rather hire someone new than promote you.

Explore other reviews about Personio

5.0
Oct 14, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

My coworkers are wonderful, I feel energized coming to work everyday

Cons

The company has had a lot of churn at Director+ levels, not a clear vision across the company

1.0
Oct 30, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart collaborative colleagues at the lower IC levels.

Cons

Personio is a dying company. The over-complexity of the company's technical systems is comical. Every attempt to simplify seems to lead to more complexity as things get half migrated and left to rot. Engineering leadership seems clueless and unable to present a clear plan-of-action to get things on track. Principal engineers force engineering time to be spent on silly projects that don't move the needle long-term. There is an overall aversion to taking the time to learn deeply about systems being used. Personio feels like a combination of all of the negatives of both a startup and a mature tech company, with none of the positives. The tech is half assed and duct taped together, but still somehow everything moves at a glacial pace. There is a mass shared delusion at the company that an IPO is in reach. No investor is going to buy this company's junk shares on the open market.

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