Poison flows down from the top of this company and it corrupts everything - Anonymous employee Sage Employee Review

1.0
29 Nov 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

10% pension. You can buy holidays

Cons

This, in a nutshell is shown in the last handful of reviews of the company on here. We have honest feedback by those genuinely concerned about the company has become and the issue with the total lack of humanity, trust or warmth and pressure is destroying from within, followed by what looks like a threat posted by the executive that senior managers that are not performing will be removed. So in the space of a weak we have seen a message internally that anyone criticising the directors will be removed and now a threat that any senior manager the executive deems failing will be removed. With this the poison spreads down from senior managers to managers, to team leads to everyone. Each relationship is corrupted, all trust is lost. Each level behaves as though they are close to be fired and this is passed onto everyone in the company. We are in a continuous loop of trying to meet the next un-achievable, underfunded and under-resourced project goal or your job is under threat. No successful companies behave like this, none. This is a sign that those at the top of the company are out of their depth at the helm of a FTSE 100 technology company. Threats and hostility can never replace ideas and leadership. You aren't running a 1970s factory, you are running a tech company where talent and ideas get you success, not threats. What this creates is good people in management positions pushed further than they should ever be, making mistakes and expecting all of the reports to continuously work flat out, just to keep them in a job. Sage is a company that asks for everything, your dinner time, your life outside of work, the appraisal policy even states you need to work harder than we expect you to and do tasks we don't expect you to in your position, in order to simply get a cost of living pay increase and it rewards you with no job security and threats. The desire at all levels to stay in a job means short term penny pinching is more important than planning and burning your employees out is the norm. This wouldn't work if there was only 1 tech company offering careers of this type, but in a world where there is so many companies to chose to make your career, this is suicide as talent leaves.

Explore other reviews about Sage

5.0
28 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good benefits. Strong company. Customer focus.

Cons

Frequent Executive changes. Trimming in Engineering teams interferes with product changes.

3.0
15 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Pay’s decent -Benefits are solid -The Sage Foundation feels like proper philanthropy -Some genuinely nice people -If you’re happy treating work as just a payslip and don’t mind things being a bit dull, Sage is actually quite a comfortable place to be. That stability is a real perk

Cons

-Far too many layers of middle management and general bureaucracy -The Ai push is getting a bit daft -Not especially innovative, so the work can feel quite uninspiring. I’m grateful to be employed, but if you’re after something more interesting, Sage will probably disappoint. That said, some people prefer it that way, fair enough -The office / hybrid requirements feel a bit pointless -Sage doesn’t tend to do layoffs, which is good, but it does mean there are quite a few people where you’re not entirely sure what they do. A lot of meetings, essentially. Even the positives come with trade-offs

4
avatar
Sage Response
1mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughtful and balanced review. We’re pleased to hear that you value your compensation and benefits, as well as the work our Foundation do, among the areas you’ve highlighted. We also recognise the points you’ve raised around bureaucracy, innovation, and the pace and focus of change. Different people are motivated by different things at work, and it’s helpful to hear honest perspectives on how our structure, processes, and priorities can impact day‑to‑day experience and engagement. Feedback like yours helps inform ongoing conversations as we continue to evolve our ways of working, use technology more meaningfully, and improve the products and experiences we create for our customers. If you’re open to sharing further insight, we encourage you to do so through our Always Listening survey. Thank you again for your openness and for being part of Sage.
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All