Look Elsewhere! Bad Environment/Work Culture! - Customer Success Manager BookNook Employee Review

1.0
22 Sept 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I believe in the product and that's why I started working for this company. The unlimited PTO is nice. I also loved the comradery between my direct colleagues that I worked with laterally in Customer Success and Implementation. They are very talented and we all stuck together and supported each other when things got challenging. I will say one positive that came out of working here was the friendships I made because we all only had each other to lean on when we were being taken advantage of or treated badly by our direct report or leadership.

Cons

The Customer Success department at this company is one of the most toxic work environments I have ever worked in due to management and leadership. My direct team lead in Customer Success had very little management experience to lead a team of CSMs and it showed. There was poor communication from them. Expectations were never set and if you ever asked questions to clarify expectations, they would gaslight you to make it look like you don't understand what your job responsibilities are. Your experience and ability to do the job well was always questioned, and if you ever said no for an ask they had of you due to bandwidth (most of the time it was a job they were required to do, but didn't want to manage), you were met with swift retaliation and bullying through condescending emails, chats, or attitude in 1:1s. This would continue for days and weeks on end through micro management and documenting everything you're doing and saying so they could build a case against you to catch you for something you are not doing, when all you want to do is your job. Some team leads are "friends" with leadership so it becomes an "us against them", when instead the focus should be on the providing white glove service to our students, districts and the program. They tell you that your self care and mental well being is a priority but they show its not when they ask you to work late nights or weekends without getting paid OT. You can't say no because they will document you for being insubordinate or ask you if you can't handle the job because "you should be able to handle this", which is another example of gaslighting. If you are a teacher looking to transition out of the classroom, this is not the best place for that transition. Growth is limited, work days are long with it being a start up and the expectations and lack of management will be just as stressful.

Explore other reviews about BookNook

5.0
13 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

flexible schedule good support great kids

Cons

not enough classes offered wish there were more

1.0
11 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The mission is good and there are good people that care about student growth.

Cons

I am pretty sure this company is barely staying above water. Run if you’re in Sales. They take your opportunities and give them to your colleagues when you’ve worked them. They fire reps before they pay them out and make up stories and find a reason to get rid of you. (I saw it happen to a few people!)They make you inflate your pipeline so that it looks good when they talk to the board. Leadership is so toxic here. You will think the HR lady is nice, but she gets information from you and tells everyone. There’s no set territory so they can move opps around and not pay people. They pit people against one another. 16 people left in the first couple of months I was there. The turnover is insane. The micromanagement was untenable.

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