This was a job! (But not a bad one.) - Anonymous employee Compass Employee Review

4.0
4 May 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Compass was, overall, an enjoyable place to work. I really liked my team - the crowd skews young, but they are smart, hardworking, and collaborative. I'm not sure about others, but I personally felt that my compensation was "at the high end of fair" - not quite "generous," but aligned with the market. Medical benefits are included unless you elect a Cadillac plan, and the free ones are pretty good - not HDHPs. The office has catered lunches every day, and if you're petty enough to complain about the quality of the free daily catering, then please tell your personal chef I say hello. Office is dog friendly. There are events, etc., if that's what you're into.

Cons

Extreme lack of transparency from leadership. All-hands meetings are frankly a joke: they put the CEO or another C-Suite leader on stage and deliver a motivational speech, when the reality is extremely different and many are worried about job security (even pre-COVID.) Performance review processes are extremely convoluted and can run for months beyond their allotted time. This wouldn't be a major issue if performance reviews weren't also directly tied to raises. They are rigidly structured and managed extremely poorly - I would not count on getting a raise or receiving a bonus, even if the bonus is built into your comp structure, even slightly. Treat getting your bonus like winning the lottery. It's that hard - not because performance standards are so high, but because the system itself is like a Rube Goldberg machine.

Explore other reviews about Compass

5.0
17 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Forward thinking tech company exploring the cutting edge

Cons

Focused on expansion by any means necessary

2.0
17 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

People are smart. Very much a “move fast and break things” culture which can be refreshing compared to bureaucracy-heavy corporate life. I don’t agree with their values (if they have any) but what they’re doing is unquestionably working - business outlook is strong.

Cons

Leadership will tell you there’s no ego or self-interest involved in their strategy - that is untrue. It’s an extremely heliocentric culture around the CEO. A lot of the work is based around what people they're guessing he’ll like, but there’s no alignment at the outset and something you worked on for weeks/months will be trashed after one look from him. Their mission is ostensibly about empowering agents but they are solving a problem that pretty much no one was complaining about before they started, and which just so happens to work highly in their favor in terms of market share. It’s just business but very disingenuous- don’t believe the hype that it’s altruistic somehow. Also the CEO loves to share his sob story about his single mother upbringing, but simultaneously enacts some of the most anti-parent policies you could think of.

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