15Five Reviews

3.1

40% would recommend to a friend

(217 total reviews)

David Hassell

67% approve of CEO

35% positive business outlook

15Five has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 217 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The 15Five employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

217 reviews
2.0
12 Dec 2020

Performance Paradox

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This is an organization that has so many great habits. The founder is especially skilled at defining the concept and practices of Best-Self Management. The concept suggests that a culture of high performance is cultivated by matching individuals with work that they both enjoy and excel at in an enthronement that nurtures their wellness and productivity. I learned a lot about my strengths and the science of high performance while I was an employee here. I also improved my meditation and breathing skills. 15Five is a collection of great people that are working very hard and doing their best. If you're looking to get out of a poor work environment, there are several departments here that will be a huge improvement for you.

Cons

Despite our best intentions, we humans sometimes miss the mark. The values that 15Five executives publicly espouse (like on the podcast or marketing materials) are not the prevalent themes you’ll find in team meetings or one-on-ones. While the founder is an extraordinary visionary, it's been a challenge for David to implement strategies that achieve high performance. This is the paradox: 15Five is a company that is developing a product and concept on high performance yet is performing poorly relative to its peers and its own potential. This low-performance culture has been building on itself for years and is reflected in leadership and management personnel. This situation is more serious in some departments than others but it is a reliable description of the organization generally. I understand this company rates very high versus most corporate jobs but, relative to SF-based B2B SaaS companies, 15Five is no better than average.

avatar
15Five Response
5y
There is some truth to this review in that at the time it was written I had recently communicated to the company that I believed that we could and should be performing better than we were. Very few companies follow a linear path to success, and many, including our competitors, have experienced moments in their trajectory where approaches needed to be evaluated and adjusted. We had one of those moments in 2020 during the pandemic, made the necessary changes, and are once again well on track. It’s also true that we had a period of higher than usual employee departures in late 2020 but still well below 2020’s tech industry average, after having historically low turnover for most of our history. That has since reverted to a normal rate. All that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t correct some significant inaccuracies in this review. 1) “revenue targets are being missed by overwhelming margins” This is simply not true. Despite some higher than typical churn in the first part of 2020 due to COVID, we exceeded our revenue stretch goals for both the calendar year 2020 as well as for the first quarter of 2021. 2) "The values that 15Five executives publicly espouse (like on the podcast or marketing materials) are not the prevalent themes you’ll find in team meetings or one-on-ones." I do not believe this is universal to 15Five. I've solicited first-hand feedback from a variety of 15Fivers on this topic and have not found this to be a common theme, at all, and is not evidenced by our overwhelming number of other positive reviews here on Glassdoor. 3) "I do not expect 15Five executives to take responsibility for their impact on the company's position and/or take meaningful action to change its fate." As CEO, the buck stops with me; I take full responsibility for any and all failings of the organization. I invest quite a bit of time listening to employees, seeking counsel with peers and advisors, and connecting with 15Fivers 1:1 whenever I feel someone has important feedback to share. I deeply care about both our mission and our people, and every member of our Senior Leadership Team is dedicated to being responsive to both strategic and executional changes as necessary, and to employee feedback directly. That's not to say that we're all perfect and get it right all the time, but we are committed to taking responsibility and being responsive as a team and an organization, to which I know many at 15Five would attest. Most importantly, we’re deeply committed to everyone being happier, healthier, and more fulfilled versions of themselves as a result of working with us, and by and large have and continue to fulfill on this commitment. I'm personally sad and sorry to hear that you had such a negative experience at 15Five. This is far from the norm of feedback we regularly receive, and not indicative of the vast majority of our team’s experience.
1.0
13 June 2024

A dumpster fire of the highest order

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Many tight-knit teams in the organization with some truly smart people trying to do their best in a losing situation.

Cons

The list of cons is long: - siloed decision making - poor executive communication - CEO is controlling and very opinionated - poor business infrastructure - promotions and raises are withheld because "the economy" - no growth and development resources - no change management; the rug gets pulled from under you but the targets don't change - two-faced management; one moment we're doing "amazing", the next moment we're laying people off to reward them for their amazing work We've had 4 layoffs in less than 3 years. Each one has been poorly timed and poorly communicated. You had to search through Slack to figure out if your friends still had a job. Stay away from this place.

1.0
17 Jan 2024

Disappointing

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Talented coworkers with a lot of heart -Decent benefits package -Flexible/remote work

Cons

-Constant strategic shifts leaving employees feeling lost -Severe lack of psychological safety. COO will ask employees how they feel about other employees or even if they should be fired -Intentional ambiguity. Leadership gives you just enough information to be able to say they're a transparent team, but it is never enough to see the full picture. -Somewhat regular layoffs at this point -A lot of favoritism and job safety for employees who are friends with those in the C-suite despite performance. -Very phony facade that leadership cares, your manager is on your side when in reality you get no support -Very inexperienced HR team with a significant lack of knowledge about the space -General elitism within the leadership team. A lot of egos and very sensitive people who take feedback as an attack -The company is scrambling to be a key player in the space but the product does not support customers in the way they need. The Product team instead builds "new and improved" features that were not asked for, and do not support customers' use cases.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 217 Reviews

Glassdoor has 228 15Five reviews submitted anonymously by 15Five employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if 15Five is right for you.