Mature company with mature people - Manager Roku Employee Review

2.0
20 Sept 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I came from a big blue company and this place isn't too different from it. The pace is reasonable and the people are mature. The stress level is quite reasonable, but of course, that really depends on the team and the manager you have. As long as you pick the right team and the right manager, everything should be good. The management layer is pretty flat, and that is a great thing because it reduces people infighting to climb the corporate ladder, such as I observed in my previous company. We had stack ranking and lots of politics, and I blame that on the huge corporate ladders and levels in the company, as well as the company size. There is no performance review process at Roku because the CEO says it's a waste of his time and other people's time. The culture is very laid back and the pace is not too different from my previous employer. Very mature, very senior people, and that makes managing them more predictably. Though at times, the company can be slow and you can get boggled down to processes, paper work, and procedures that were established due to legacy reasons. The pay is pretty good, unfortunately the options are currently worth nothing unless the company exits. Acquisition or IPO? Nobody knows when that will be.

Cons

First and foremost I agree with previous posters about the terrible insurance plans that Roku offers. I have had horrible experiences with Kaiser, and when I switched to Anthem Blue Cross tThey have pretty much denied every single cost that used to be covered under my previous employer's PPO plans (again, I used to work at a big blue company with wonderful wonderful insurance plan). The deductibles for Blue Cross Basic plan is extremely high, so that's not ideal to pick. On the other hand the deductibles for the Premium plan is quite low and that's good, but I end up paying over $1600 A MONTH out of pocket for the plan (Roku pays additional $900 to that amount, so a total of about $2500/month payment to Blue Cross and VSP and dental every month). So every year, I take my salary, and subtract $19,200 from it. That's how bad the insurance plan here is. Before you join, you should google for "Anthem Blue Cross reviews". It is the only insurance plan with only 1 star (the lowest). Consumer Affairs accreditation rates Blue Cross the lowest of them all. Second con: the stock options could very well be worth nothing. Nobody seems to know the valuation of the company or how much each stock is worth. For all I know, it is zero unless the company exits, and they've been talking about that for several years already.

Explore other reviews about Roku

5.0
31 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Direct and open environment. Great people

Cons

Comp program is not great. no annual inflation adjusted pay

1.0
16 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Pay is good to start (never changes though) -Benefits fully covered for single employees, mostly covered for spouse -Stock is currently up

Cons

People are miserable and actively hate each other. Very few people are happy (maybe some engineers?). The rest of us are tired and beat down from constant change, reorgs, and projects that go nowhere. Leadership isn't aligned. VPs scrabble for power. Direction changes. Projects get killed. The cycle repeats. The looks on faces you pass in the hallway say it all. Everyone I talk to is miserable and looking for another job. That may not be the case for all departments, but is certainly isn't an isolated experience. The company cares more about RTO swipes and AI logins than keeping good talent. And they track both weekly. If you fall below an arbitrary percentage (which you're unable to see for yourself) they have reasonable cause to fire you without severance. Which they do often. RTO is currently at 4 days a week and expected to go to 5 any day now. All for a culture of scrambling for conference rooms and sitting in traffic. Whatever you're hired to do, you won't be trusted to do it. If that sounds fun, this is your place! If you're actually good at your job, go somewhere you'll be valued.

4
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