PE Vultures Have Killed the Culture - Engineering Avalara Employee Review

1.0
Jul 23, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Taxes are a stable but boring field. They'll always be around. Plenty of really smart people solving hard problems with (mostly) good technology. You'll learn a lot.

Cons

Senior leadership has sold out completely. The private equity overlords say jump, and Scott and the crew say "how high?" I imagine they're getting rewarded nicely with bonuses and equity grants for their compliance. The company is in the process of shifting 70% of the workforce to cheap labor markets (primarily Pune, India) by the end of next year. There was a major layoff in 2023 and a significant number of terminations for performance (silent layoffs) in 2024. Employees were encouraged to give false scores on the annual Gallup engagement survey. Anything below a 5 was grounds for firing your manager. Why even have the survey if you're pressuring people to lie on it? Leadership insists upon gaslighting the remaining employees into believing the company is still a great place to work with a unique culture. While it used to be a fun, quirky place to work prior to the sale, that is no longer the case. Just do your job, keep your head down, and hope they don't decide to let you go so they can move your job overseas.

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Avalara Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to offer feedback about your experience.

Explore other reviews about Avalara

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cutting edge technologies Very Smart colleagues Great business model

Cons

High hiring and performance bar

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Avalara Response
5d
Thank you for sharing your experience at Avalara. We’re glad to hear the technology and your teammates have made a positive impact. We appreciate your feedback and your contributions.
4.0
Jul 17, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Is Avalara a great place to work? It depends on the team you are on. Pros: - I love my team. I have great co-workers. I feel like leadership to the VP level understands the value we bring and advocates for our work throughout the company - I like being able to go into the office and see people and bounce ideas around - My manager is always pushing me to learn new things and get out of my comfort zone - We just got a new CEO and I am super excited about him and his vision. Everyone who has actually been in meetings with him is excited too.

Cons

It depends on the team you are on. Cons: - Some teams are not as curious/helpful as others. I often have to check and recheck the work they do, after I have chased them multiple times to even complete the work - The layoff fear is real, the idea that at any point your position could be eliminated because they want to keep that revenue per headcount KPI down is everywhere

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Avalara Response
1d
Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful insight. We're glad to hear your team and manager have had a positive impact on your experience, and we're encouraged by your optimism about Avalara's future. We also recognize how important it is for that experience to feel consistent across the company, and we appreciate you sharing your perspective.
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