Growing Fast and Losing the Magic - Software Engineer Datadog Employee Review

Comp reviews are done without any input from the employee. Performance reviews, decoupled from compensation, don't feel impactful - on a scale from 1-5 where 5 is beyond expectations, 5 isn't actually an option because the higher ups don't want those to be given out. In fact, a lot of decisions from higher ups impact the culture negatively, where they make decisions that are better handled by team leads and managers (people regular employees actually work with, talk to, and know). The theme of management is having a lax policy, then slowly killing it without clarity or communication. Promotions also happen without employee input. Hybrid policy, which used to be unclear, is now mandated from above, and tracked by badge swipes. "Unlimited" PTO is not so anymore - in the US it is tracked to be no more than some "average" they got of 15-25 days, up to manager discretion, but after the 25 they're told to decline additional. KPI's are made just to satisfy executives that don't have the best context for the teams that have to write them. Almost a third of the team I'm on are managers of some sort.