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      Personio

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      Personio reviews

      3.2

      48% would recommend to a friend

      (443 total reviews)
      avatar

      Hanno Renner

      52% approve of CEO

      37% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      3.6

      Compensation and benefits

      3.5

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.5

      Work/Life balance

      3.1

      Culture & values

      2.8

      Career opportunities

      2.7

      Senior management

      Personio has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 443 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Personio employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      443 reviews
      2.0
      Aug 14, 2023

      If you don't have ex-Meta/Twitter/etc don't even apply

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      The colleagues. Though the managing choices are really affecting the culture inside the company, most people that I have worked with in Personio were great colleagues, always trying to collaborate together and help each other out to create solutions. Also, most people do want to create great products for customers and this is something that gets people inspired.

      Cons

      Cultural changes, especially in some departments such as the one that involves engineering, design, and product. The company has no transparency, decisions are made and we just hear it after some time. This goes both on the bigger level such as how you are evaluated in your career (at least this they seem to be trying to change) to the smaller level such as in the projects you are working on. This lack of transparency also goes into the structure process. People are fired and we know about it through gossip instead of formal display, people are changed teams, and is not clear why the decision was made. Also, people that have been working in the company and not just joined are not valued. It takes so long to promote people that have been doing a great job. Also, other changes could be made to show you are listening to your employee and valuing them and they are not done. Things such as giving projects that have more visibility or letting people change teams to go to something that they are more interested in. All these projects are actually being given to new joiners that come from big tech-name companies. That's why in my title I say that if you don't have this in your resume don't join, but if you do maybe you will fit.

      avatar
      Personio Response
      2y
      Hello, Thank you for your review. I appreciate your candid feedback and take your concerns about cultural change, transparency, and how promotions are handled very seriously. Promotion evaluations are a vital part of the company’s Performance Growth Cycle. In Product & Technology, we recently rolled out clear and transparent expectations by level for each function within the organization (engineering, product management, product design, research, etc). These are easily accessible in our internal systems and by now, we have held multiple enablement sessions. If you haven’t seen and internalized these yet for some reason, please reach out to me or your HR partner and we will be happy to spend time with you on our expectations framework. As I referenced above, our performance evaluations are based on clear and transparent performance expectations at each level that incorporate both your what (the results) and the how (how you achieve results). All promotion decisions are calibrated fairly and equitably based on a specific, and again transparent, set of criteria that consider level of impact and responsibility over a sustained period of time, typically a year or more. We value the impact of all our employees, whether they are new joiners or have been with us for a longer time. It often takes time to demonstrate and ship significant impact. Our most recent cohort of promotions included individuals who had an average tenure of 1.8 years with some receiving their second promotion since being with us. Transparency is an important part of how we run Personio. As Personio continues to grow, we've received feedback that pushing all communications to everyone creates noise and information overload that isn't scalable. So, we've adopted a balanced approach. Information that is relevant to everyone will be communicated in mass forums to ensure all our push communication remains relevant for all employees. Whereas information that is for a specific audience is now shared in targeted spaces, while remaining accessible to anyone interested in finding and consuming it. Matters involving specific individuals will be handled sensitively and confidentially to honor their privacy. I know change can be challenging, especially in a fast-growing organization, and I’m keen to continuously improve our communication so that everyone feels informed and supported. Your feedback is valuable as we scale, and we welcome further insights on how we can better enable our employees to succeed. If you're open to a confidential conversation, please reach out to me on Slack or contact any trusted member of the People team or your lead. We're here to listen and work together to address your concerns. Thank you for being a part of the Personio team. Best wishes, Maria Angelidou-Smith, Chief Product and Technology Officer
      1.0
      Aug 13, 2023

      Don't mix the side effects of hyper-growth with deliberate practices.

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Diversity Offices Most people on the teams Employer branding ( no one would have been disappointed this much otherwise)

      Cons

      - I decided to write this review after I saw many forced positive reviews and blaming attitudes with phrases like "it is not for everyone". While 12+ hours working days, getting messages at 10 pm or on vacation days are worth mentioning, I will share something else. - At some point, Personio decided to restructure its product organisation. While it is 100% understandable for a company to hire senior talent from big tech, they did this at the cost of the culture, created an uncertain environment, and treated people as resources with an expiry date. - It started with high-performing senior people leaving unexpectedly. While the official message is always something like "they decided to embark on a new adventure", everybody knew they were either getting fired or blindsided by a random performance review and forced to leave. - It got worse with middle managers who feared for their lives and passed on all the pressure and stress from above. Instead of getting clear guidance, all you got was pressure, anxiety, and hearing the opposite of what you heard the week before. - The cherry on top is if you are dealing with a manager who gets extremely insecure because you questioned his approach and starts threatening to "replace you" and gaslighting you. Since no one asks for your feedback about your manager, there is not much way for you to get help. - When I approached an HR/People partner on the verge of burnout, they thought "This was a great learning opportunity for me". I was the 4th direct report that left them. Here is an interesting HR KPI for you: Turnover per manager. - I definitely did not have what it takes to navigate this environment and protect my health at the same time. - If you also have unreasonable expectations such as believing what your manager is telling you or not getting fired after getting only positive feedback from a 360-degree performance review, without a single improvement point, it might not be a place for you.

      avatar
      Personio Response
      2y
      Hello, I appreciate your feedback about your experience at Personio. It's disheartening to hear that your time with us did not meet your expectations. I hope you had the opportunity to share your concerns with your lead or a member of the People team before leaving, as your perspective is valuable. Regarding your comment about forced reviews, I want to clarify that posting reviews on Glassdoor is entirely voluntary, and we do not require our employees to do so. However, we also recognize the importance of Glassdoor as a platform for candidates to learn about life at Personio and so we are supportive of our employees (such as yourself) sharing voluntary reviews with honest insights into our culture and work environment. Our culture thrives on continuous feedback and recognition, whether it's through one-on-one conversations with a lead, the Personio feedback tool, or our bi-annual engagement pulse survey. Open, honest, and regular communication are key to our growth and success. Concerning your remarks about culture, I acknowledge that fast growth and change can be challenging and I’m committed to making sure that everyone feels valued, informed, and supported. Transparency and communication is an important part of this. As Personio continues to grow, we've received feedback that pushing all communications to everyone creates noise and information overload that isn't scalable. So, we've adopted a balanced approach. Information that is relevant to everyone will be communicated in mass forums to ensure all our push communication remains relevant for all employees. Whereas information that is for a specific audience is now shared in targeted spaces, while remaining accessible to anyone interested in finding and consuming it. Matters involving specific individuals will be handled sensitively and confidentially to honor their privacy. When it comes to people leaving, we genuinely value the contributions of every team member towards our product and mission and want to retain and develop our Personios. We also understand that career paths can take different directions. Sometimes, it's the right time for people to explore new opportunities or pursue personal growth. Our overall attrition is lower than what we see in the industry and is not a source of concern. We have also made a priority this year to invest in the growth, training, and development of our managers to create positive work environments and effectively support their teams. We recognize that there’s always room for improvement, and we’re continually looking to enhance the experience of our Personios. If you’re open to a confidential conversation to provide further insights into your experience or discuss any concerns, please contact us at glassdoor@personio.de, and our team will connect us. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I wish you all the best. Maria Angelidou-Smith, Chief Product and Technology Officer
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      Glassdoor has 676 Personio reviews submitted anonymously by Personio employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Personio is right for you.