BridgeU Reviews

- Management: Unfortunately there is a high level of mistrust in the culture of this company. It has been detailed in other reviews but I think it needs to be reiterated as the headline. An example of this was when an 'anonymous feedback session' was offered to the team to give their views on the company. This feedback session was conducted by someone external from the main company and the employees were told the answers would go no further. This was to give people a 'safe-space' to voice their opinions honestly. Results from this feedback session were then relayed to the CEO and at least one of my colleagues was threatened with things that were brought up in a supposedly anonymous space. Totally unacceptable in my view. - Low Development/Wages: I think there's a misplaced belief that talking about silicon valley culture and creating a buzz around rapid growth assuages the concerns of many new hires when it comes to low wages or a lack of development. It does not. - Broken Promises: Many of those in the team were repeatedly promised wage increases, stock options, promotions, management, training and a host of other things that never materialised. This was very demotivating. - Micromanagement: Decision-making is decidedly top-down with only the illusion of choice for those outside the SLT. It is not to be expected that a company is a democracy, but if a company of this size can't trust its staff to make decisions then they will be destined to be slow-moving in their responses to new problems in the fast paced world of Ed-Tech startups. - Handling of Ex-Employees: As mentioned in the Pro's column, BridgeU often hires enthusiastic and enterprising young team members. It is a shame then that so many in my time there were stifled and eventually fired or left. It is one thing to lose good people but another to treat them with disdain. When popular or successful people leave questions are asked at the ground level and need to be answered openly by those at the top. Avoiding this and treating people badly on the way out has made many resentful and led to further flight of talent. - SLT Delusions: At first I was scared to speak out on Glassdoor, for fear of losing a future reference. But in the end, I wrote this review as I believe that other positive reviews here have been written by Senior Team Leaders. I don't know about their intentions, but I don't think they're malicious. I don't believe many people are, at their core, bad. We're all struggling along. They probably just want to keep the ship floating, and I think the company is by no means unsalvageable. From a culture or a product perspective. People can change. However, there is a lot of denial about the problems going on. I hope someone in charge reads this and takes it on board. For their sake as well as everyone else's.

Day to day work: - 9am and 5pm meetings are standard, great when you have children to drop off at school - Lunchtime all-company meetings are commonplace Incompetent HR Have to be given permission to do things - not allowed to work on your own initiative Top heavy org - firing workers and hiring more and more VPs Nepotism - Hiring friends as contractors on £800 per day - Complaining there is “no budget” - Making people redundant to replace with contractors after 6 months Compensation: - Promotions without pay rises - Hiring & pay freezes - Salaries already below market rate and falling - No opportunity for progression in a shrinking team - Cannot hire replacements as anybody that values themselves does not apply - Neurodivergent? Don’t even bother applying. - Remaining people expected to backfill roles and do the job of 3 people with zero acknowledgement, appreciation, or respect. - “You’re lucky to have a job” mentality. Toxic environment - Encouraged to throw others under the bus to save your own skin and avoid being cut - Told not to “work late” whilst simultaneously rewarding those who do - Speaking up is encouraged, and then immediately used to discipline you - Harassment and bullying is commonplace Change for change sake - Mentality that change is good, with no consideration for the impact of change - Sometimes a change can be worse, more often than not within this org Wild hockey stick revenue predictions based on no data or roadmap - Workers punished when insane projections are not met - Underfunded business in a now oversaturated market - Better funded competitors in the space that are accelerating away, leaving BridgeU in the dust