smart people; lowkey toxic work environment - Operations Associate Forward Employee Review

3.0
May 13, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-super supportive team where everyone is very hardworking and intelligent -you have lots of ownership! that being said, you're often just putting out burning fires as opposed to building long-term solutions

Cons

-often feels like Forward is built upon a foundation of fear. the performance standards are very high and the company is always looking for ways to cut COGS. thus, people get fired at random times for being "a bad fit" or "not competent" and this is often comes as a surprise (i.e. no pip or warning or anything). this means that the "hardworking" nature of individuals at the company is often built out of fear of being let go at any given moment--which is pretty toxic. -notorious for conducting layoffs whenever the company starts to experience any sort of financial stress (a lot of instability with this job) -the product itself is not really great. a lot of current employees have even said that they wouldn't use the product because of all the bugs and its cost to value ratio. -experienced a huge round of layoffs recently that really caused the company to take a huge culture hit. a lot of the original pros surrounding the awesome culture at Forward no longer applies -felt like the company cared more about saving money and generating revenue than actually helping patients

Explore other reviews about Forward

5.0
Jan 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Supportive and collaborative team, strong product mindset, clear goals, and respect for design. High ownership, trust, and autonomy. Leadership is open to feedback, and designers are involved in real product decisions, not just visuals.

Cons

Fast-paced environment with a lot of responsibility, which may not be ideal for someone looking for a slower or more structured workflow. Priorities can shift as the company grows, but this is typical for scaling teams.

3.0
Sep 30, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. Smart and friendly coworkers 2. Good engineering culture 3. Opportunities for growth

Cons

1. Not-profitable - Forward never found a working model to solve the problem, and anchored heavily on solutions that lacked market-fit evidence. Contradictory to the problem-focused culture at Forward. 2. The finance problems lead to urgency. Work was demanding and tough across the org. However, engineering velocity was not the problem to begin with, leading to a vicious cycle of unmet goals -> tighter deadlines. 3. Frequent and fundamental shifts in company priorities leading to disorganized sprints and planning. A lot of work were throw away despite long hours invested.

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