Very mixed rollercoaster - Product Manager Qualtrics Employee Review

3.0
Oct 13, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People here have been extremely supportive of my personal career development. This has been the primary reason for me staying at Qualtrics given the cons outlined below. Our high growth environment means there are many personally fulfilling, high impact projects that lead to a fun workload.

Cons

TENURE BASED PROMOTION AND RATING SYSTEM. We tout being a meritocracy (to the point it was included in our prior S-1), but this is simply not true. You have to be in level for 2 years before becoming eligible for promotion (the promotion cycles are 6 months apart). By being in level 2 years, I literally mean 2 years - I started in October 2 years ago, the same month as the promotion cycles, but they cut off to the exact day so I'm not actually eligible. While there is an exception process, it is notoriously impossible to get through. Additionally, the rating system is also tenure based. For the first rating cycle, even if your boss tells you that you've outperformed expectations, are ramping extremely quickly, and delivering high impact, you can still only ever get "meets expectations" (my boss had directly told me she thought I deserved higher but couldn't give me anything other than meets since I was only 6 months into the job). Even more unfortunately, this has a direct impact eligibility for the exception process, enforcing the tenure based cycle. The early indication is we're being ripped off in our share conversion ratio for going back into an independent company. Decisions are made by a small few in the organization. No permenat WFH options. Post-COVID, this might be the straw that breaks my back and forces me to leave for somewhere else. Communication is lacking. For example, we've made a statement that we want to lead the industry in slowly returning to work. However, it's now 2 months from our return date and all the big tech companies have pushed out into mid-2021, yet there's been crickets on what our plan is. One of many examples. VERY political for a company of our size (this was the case pre-SAP). Biggest surprise.

avatar
Qualtrics Response
5y
Thank you for taking time to leave a review. While a person’s time in a role may vary, we don’t have a flat 2-year rule. In our earliest career levels, people can be eligible in as little as 9 months. But the expectations for time spent in a role exist because we think of promotion readiness as sustained high performance. We know it takes time to ramp, grow through a level, and show that you’re ready for a level-based promotion. We’ve benchmarked our timelines with similar companies and set our trajectory here is ahead of market. Since this review was left, further information about our return to office has been shared, and if you have further questions, we would encourage you to reach out to your local HRBP for clarification.

Explore other reviews about Qualtrics

5.0
May 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Enjoy the changes silver lake has made. We are getting more efficient and back to what Qualtrics is really good at.

Cons

A lot of change can be frustrating at times, but necessary

3.0
Jun 27, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits and resources available for their employees. In-office perks include catered lunches 3 days a week, 2 days with grub-hub credits, and free snacks and coffee daily; alongside office events and parties. There is a generally positive culture amongst the overall company.

Cons

Their actual company leadership does not always make the best decisions and rather than prioritizing root cause issues that impact both the customers and employees' daily work, they would rather prioritize shinier items that give the illusion of innovation. This will trickle down to the employees in the form of stressed deadlines, longer hours, and frustrated clients and/or frustrated teams you may work cross functionally with that are client facing. Your actual experience at qualtrics is largely based on what team/job function you are in and who your manager is. Additionally, there is a glaring diversity issue that remains unaddressed with no real effort to hire more underrepresented people of color, leading to the high turnover rate of underrepresented minorities who are not lucky enough to have great managers.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All