Great team, but overall an extremely poor experience - Anonymous employee UpHabit Employee Review

1.0
18 Apr 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The team that was built was great, work was usually done quickly and to a high quality. Very friendly people that all wanted to build something great, would gladly work with them again Working in a start-up meant working on lots of new features and got to see the product grow A fair amount of perks, good equipment, and a nice office space Compensation and benefits were good, at or slightly above industry standard

Cons

Working with leadership was extremely difficult. often felt like nothing I said or purposed mattered, it was usually brushed off or forgotten about very quickly. Features were planned based off of what management (the CEO) wanted and very little if any user research or data was taken into consideration when a new feature was developed. Features changed at a whim, it felt like every week something new was added or a feature out of nowhere needed to be urgently put into the app with no clear reasoning as to why other than "I want it". When a feature that was dictated to us tested poorly or received negative feedback, management denied all responsibility and blamed us for the poor performance. There was an obsessive mantra of wanting to listen to users and always being open to feedback but it often went nowhere. Saying you listen to users only works when their feedback is incorporated into the product. Micromanagement was common. Getting messages from management at all hours of the day about some new idea was a weekly occurrence. I clearly remember getting messages Christmas morning while opening gifts with my family. Management would ask for things and if you didn't immediately respond you'd be bombarded with messages asking to see it. It created an extremely anxiety-filled office, and it's something that still impacts me today. Seeing co-workers cry, being extremely upset/angry, or venting after work happened far too often. Management would always bring up how much things cost and spend staggering amounts on things that felt had little impact and it definitely made us question why these investments were being made (thousands spent on merch, fancy toys for the office, weekly catered lunches, very expensive work parties etc...) Money seemed to be the thing used to solve a lot of problems rather than thinking things through and creating a plan. We were always told to go with the most expensive option for software/services or contractors, and it really felt like money was being flaunted just for the sake of showing off. After a lengthy period of time working there had lost all confidence in the product and in leadership, had given up trying to make an impact with the skills have and really just went along with what leadership told me to do, which benefits no one and ultimately left the product in a poor state. I don't regret my time there, it gave me experience of knowing what not to look for in a job.

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UpHabit Response
5y
Hi there, after seeing this new review the company has the sense that we likely have just one former employee or competitor writing a number of reviews. If it's a former employee, as mentioned you're doing a disservice to your fellow current and former team members where their future employees will read your reviews and wonder if it was them that was coming off as so bitter and unkind. As just mentioned, to those employers, please speak to the UpHabit founder. He knows his team and the quality of them and their work. He doesn't want these diatribes to reflect poorly on the great team members he works with daily and the former team members he has led. To the author...you've never said any of this at any time in the history of being at the company, so we highly doubt these postings are from a group of former employees. We're all in tech...we know how to create lots of emails accounts from different IP addresses, don't we? The founder is not concerned by these reviews. He knows his values and Glassdoor is not new. You're only hurting former team members. Some I know have seen the first post and are shocked and disappointed. Is that what you planned on? Hurting them? In any event, we wish you great success in your future. If you were a former employee, we strongly advise you let this go as it's not healthy to maintain this level of animosity. You made your point. You're bitter and weren't happy at UpHabit (if in fact you were there). But geez, why not just have left? This bitterness will affect your current life and we don't wish that for anyone. Sincerely, UpHabit

Explore other reviews about UpHabit

5.0
18 July 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Team: UpHabit was founded on a set of values that have helped build the foundation of a great team. The team is really intelligent, passionate and I really enjoy coming into work and solving problems with them. Everyone is kind and passionate. Especially passionate about our product and doing right by our users. In my +10 years experience, this combination of amazing culture and passion for product excellence is a rare one. Learning: There are many opportunities to learn in this environment since it is a startup and is fast paced. Including opportunities to learn from each other and our CEO. Our CEO is very passionate about ongoing learning and gives me the space to make mistakes and learn from them. This has fostered a safe and open working dynamic with our team and is helping us to evolve into the best we can be. (also extremely rare in my opinion) Perks: There are amazing perks and lots of them. Sometimes truly hard to believe but, our CEO continues to go above and beyond to make this environment an enjoyable one. For example: your choice at the top of the line computer, phone bill credit, amazing benefits program, work from home option, free lunches, free beer, free snacks, great office and location, summer hours option and more. These perks are really awesome but truly, the best part of working at UpHabit is that I love coming into the office everyday and tackling challenges with our team.

Cons

There are honestly none that I can find.

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UpHabit Response
7y
Thank you! We're honoured to have you on the team and we couldn't be more fortunate to have such a great group of smart, kind and supportive teammates.
5.0
27 May 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

By far one of the best working environments I've worked in, and I've worked in some pretty dope places. The team is wonderful, and you feel a sense that everyone wants you to succeed. They're all smart in their fields and always show interest in one another. A flat hierarchy with the CEO on top, however, the CEO is more invested in you and always willing to hear you out. Funny enough, in my experience working for small startups is that all the promises you hear you take with a grain of salt, yet Neil (the CEO) not only delivers everything he promises but even more.

Cons

It's a startup like any other, and not sure if you consider this as a con but you are required to be flexible and willing to wear many hats. You might come in one day thinking that you'd want to get X done only to see that Y and Z just got in the way. Otherwise, there's not many to think of. I mentioned that everyone is a rockstar in their field that you might feel a bit underqualified or hesitant in what you're doing however that feeling is mutual among everyone as they all want the best to come out of this endeavour. Working at UpHabit is an experience on its own that is quite hard to replicate somewhere else!

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UpHabit Response
8y
Yes, thank you! One of our mantras is "Make New Mistakes" and we love celebrating the mistakes we make along the way when building a great product for our customers (we call them Habiteers). Mistakes are a part of learning and a sign of real progress. If we're not making enough of them, we're being complacent and that's not how we want to live and grow at UpHabit. Thanks again!
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