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Native Instruments

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Native Instruments reviews about "layoff"

27% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

24 reviews
3.0
6 Feb 2023

Disappointment

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Trust-based working hours Awesome people on my team

Cons

Merger led to a lot of chaos and lots of vacancies in the products department. There are no bonuses whatsoever. 2023 layoffs were a cherry on top that led me to leave a review here.

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Native Instruments Response
2y
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! We're glad you appreciate our trust-based to flexible working and the incredible people on your team. We understand the challenges of the merger; mergers are rarely easy, so we continue to focus on creating one united company and capitalizing on the benefits of our enhanced technical experience and product ecosystem. We take your feedback seriously and are committed to addressing these issues. Your feedback helps us identify areas for improvement, so thanks again for sharing your perspective.
3.0
4 Oct 2023

good people / bad place

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great people loaded with inspiration and creativity lots to learn about music technology ok work/life balance

Cons

who’s in charge vision / roadmap changes every few months nothing of value gets released just remarked repackaged bs which the industry sees through company is butt of every joke in the industry plenty of short sighted layoffs way underpaid

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Native Instruments Response
2y
We really appreciate your feedback and the shout-out to our awesome team and the creative vibe we've got going on. We've heard your concerns about the lack of clear direction and changes in vision, and we've taken steps to address that. Just recently, we shared our new company vision, mission, strategy, and values with everyone in Q4 to provide more clarity and stability. Plus, it's worth mentioning that we haven't had any layoffs for well over a year, and we've made some big changes since then, like introducing a new global career framework with fair salaries. We're all about delivering value to our industry, and we're constantly working to improve. Your feedback helps us stay on track, so thanks for sharing, and we're committed to making this a great place for everyone.
2.0
1 July 2025

A Sinking Ship far from what it Once Was

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing people, some of the nicest, most talented and creative individuals will be among your coworkers. Everyone working at NI is deeply passionate about making music or music in general, and there is a (declining) fantastic culture of sharing ideas. Good benefits! True 'unlimited' PTO. The best thing about this being a European company is they really encourage you to take 3-6 weeks vacation every year, people are often gone for a whole month at a time. REMOTE WORK IS A HUGE PLUS!! A real global company, they're flexible with scheduling and hours. I worked 7:30-3:30 for years and it worked for me, management is super flexible as long as you get your work done. Fun culture. Good discounts on the company's products, as well as many other industry partnerships.

Cons

Strap in. More than anything, the biggest downside is there is little to no stability here. There are constant departures from senior positions, and the threat of layoffs is always seen in everyone's eyes. Every all hands feels like a layoff is coming. People who've worked for the company for decades have been jumping ship for years with no real effort to rehire to these roles. Very low possibility for career advancement. Especially in creative roles, people do not commonly get promoted or even given raises. The pay is also massively substandard for a company of NI's size and industry notoriety. No bonuses, many years without a raise. The company is always strapped for cash, despite how badly it wants to make every year like 2020 when we were all inside making music. After being bought by private equity, it's gotten much worse. The executive team feels like they're just coasting on big salaries until the company folds. C-suite frequently in flux, with 6+ CEO changes over four years and a revolving door of other leaders, it always felt like NI wasn't on stable footing. Overall, the frequent change in leadership and management by private equity transitioned the company from a passionate audio company focussed on making interesting and compelling products people wanted, to a business that was more focussed on constantly re-releasing old products with few updates to squeeze what cash they can out of their customer base. Creativity both in app development and marketing was quashed in the interest of making the safe sale. Finally, they treat their people like statistics. Frequently, layoffs and firings happen right after product launches; as soon as you finish a massive campaign or project, someone will come in with an AI-written termination notice and drop you like a hot potato.

3.0
17 June 2025

Great People/ Poor Management

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

hybrid work method inclusive culture dog-friendly office

Cons

poor upper - management people leaving left and right many layoff waves in the last years no bonuses

1.0
11 Oct 2022

Bad management

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good health benefits package Cool and friendly coworkers

Cons

-Constant layoffs and no job security (even people who had been working there for 20 years) -No support when asked for -There were people in management that didn't know what they were doing and were incompetent, which resulted in an inefficient work environment and people who were extremely overworked -No room for growth

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Native Instruments Response
2y
Thank you for sharing your valuable feedback about your experience at NI. We appreciate your positive comments regarding our good health benefits package and the wonderful coworkers you had the opportunity to collaborate with. We understand that some aspects of your experience fell short of your expectations. We take your concerns seriously and are committed to addressing them. We are actively improving our processes to provide more stability and support for our employees. Additionally, we recognize the importance of growth opportunities and are actively working on a new global career framework and are creating avenues for career advancement across NI. Your feedback helps us identify areas for improvement. We appreciate your feedback as it plays a crucial role in our continuous improvement efforts.
3.0
2 Feb 2023

Great People and Benefits, Disorganized Mess with no room for growth

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- People are amazing and creative individuals - Generous PTO and additional holidays - Remote working option, good work/life balance - Matched 401k - Great benefits

Cons

Upper management has zero idea what is going on and launch company wide strategy changes every other week. Constantly promising no layoffs and then major layoffs happen CEO and executive level changes every few months No clear roadmap There is no real room for growth

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Native Instruments Response
2y
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback! We're absolutely thrilled to hear that you appreciate our amazing and creative team members and the wonderful benefits we offer. We completely understand your concerns about upper management and truly appreciate your patience while we worked on strategy development. Our executives were itching to communicate with our employees, and now that the product strategy is out, we were overjoyed to receive such positive feedback through the engagement survey. We want you to know that we're always looking for ways to help everyone feel connected to our strategic priorities, which is why we've introduced aligned OKRs for all NI team members. Your feedback means a lot to us, and we're fully committed to improving these areas.
2.0
11 Dec 2024

Company Rather Send People Away Then Help Them Grow

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

When Brainworx, iZotope, and Native Instruments were separate entities they had great folks, each with their own strengths and abilities working well together. Everyone had a job or multiple hats that they wore proudly and did well. People were proud of their brands and what they brought to the world. People genuinely enjoyed going to work and doing what had to be done.

Cons

When Francisco Partners took over a majority stake in all three companies and consolidated them into a singular NI entity, the layoffs and changes drove a lot of talented and amazing people away. Customers noticed right away and voiced concerns. Profit trumped all other things. There were private equity share holders to please now. Education, innovation, and community fell by the wayside. Pillars that were once driving forcings were now tertiary. Customers noticed right away and voiced concerns. When in company meetings, employees were told it was a safe space to share concerns, ask any questions, etc. Then after the meetings, depending on who your Executive lead and Directors were, you would be berated, yelled at, and penalized for "making them look bad" by asking your questions in that safe space. It doesn't help either that when sharing how the layoffs and changes to the work balance affected mental health, the response from those in charge was very politely worded: "Maybe this place isn't right for you and you should look for opportunity elsewhere." Instead of saying let's work together on finding the right work/life balance and ensuring the teams can handle the work. Let's fix this and find a way to make things better. The man who replaced Rob Singer as CEO is a hatchet man from Franciso Partners. Telling wild stories on his first day about making tough choices for other companies he worked at and gloating about his history as if it were war stories. Rob Singer refused to keep laying folks off and did everything in his power to keep people, so the Private Equity firm removed him and put in someone not afraid to cut anything for the sake of saving profits for them. The company also stopped issuing normal cost-of-living pay increases, bonuses, and regular raises. By the end, my salary was almost 8 percent less than other competitive companies. I've heard from others that their salary differences compared to competitors are north of 15% for certain specialized roles.

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