Very Dishonest Company/Leadership - Full Stack Developer Sparkbox Employee Review

1.0
23 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They have a nice reimbursement program for Home Office, Education, Gym Menbership, etc. That's the extent of the pros, though.

Cons

I will start by saying I don't think there is anything malicious about how this company is run. With that being said, they are very dishonest. With themselves and with their employees. I was recently laid off, but in the 4 weeks before the layoff happened, including just 4 days before layoffs happened, I was assured multiple times that my job was secure and that no layoffs would be happening. I heard things like "This happens every January, we aren't worried." and "We are planning to grow the company this year and we are right on track to do that." Then we show up Monday morning and get laid off. Not only were we laid off without ANY severance, the way they did it was unbelievably cold and disconnected. They messaged us on Slack saying that in 15 minutes everyone would receive an email telling them their job status. Then 15 minutes later emails went out saying we were laid off. In the Slack message, email, and follow ups to questions, we heard "for the health of the company" at least twice as much as we heard them apologize. They clearly were too weak to do this one on one with those being laid off, and they clearly didn't care that they were causing serious hardship on their employees. Don't believe them when they say they are an employee first company or that they have a great culture. They don't care about you AT ALL. The ONLY thing they care about is the bottom line and the companies profits. They preach work/life balance, but when it comes down to it they will encourage you to work overtime without billing your hours so they can look like they are producing more than they actually are. They also passively encourage you to work harder right now and grow within the company, then spend time with your family later. It's a pretty disgusting culture of company first mindset. On top of all that, they severely underpay their employees and their raise/promotion structure is an absolute joke. It's designed to keep people underpaid while making them think they are being treated well and advancing.

Explore other reviews about Sparkbox

5.0
16 Jan 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Smart, interesting colleagues who care about their craft; work on interesting projects and even ones that come from employee ideas; leadership is open and great to work for

Cons

Not too many cons to name

5.0
24 June 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I wasn't asked to write this review, and I don't work at Sparkbox anymore, so this is a voluntary, honest, unfiltered review of the company. I worked at Sparkbox for more than 10 years and was honored to help shape the company and watch it grow over the years. Even though I've moved on to a new chapter, I can still honestly say it was a wonderful experience, full of some of the best people in the industry. Leadership truly cares about each team member and makes thoughtful decisions that align with their core values—I witnessed it on the surface and in the trenches. No matter what highs or lows we went through, decisions were always filtered through the lens of "What would be best for our team?" They really do care about their people. A couple other notes: • Hiring is selective, which means Sparkbox is a curated team of humble, thoughtful, curious people who care about one another—team members, clients, and the tech community. • Service to clients is top-notch, honest, and dedicated to quality

Cons

2023 was certainly a rough patch (as it was for many similarly situated web studios), and the company had to make some hard decisions to let people go. They did everything they could to avoid it and were very transparent with the team along the way. There were also some decisions (made by someone no longer with the company) that unfortunately caused some negative impact, but I know Sparkbox has worked hard to repair the situation. The company is truly committed to doing what's right.

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