Soul Crushing - Software Engineer Smartsheet Employee Review

1.0
Apr 27, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- People in IC roles are usually nice - Some of the direct managers are nice, but it's a roll of the dice depending on the team you're on - Interesting and challenging work to upgrade legacy tech stack

Cons

- Senior leadership does not care about employees - Fake commitment to DEI from senior leadership - Hiring in and promoting only white men with nuclear families to the highest levels (or if you're not a white man, you must be willing to uphold that power structure to get promoted) - Mediocre pay - Senior Product & Engineering is full of bullies - Nothing brought up to HR is ever attended to (from personal experience and issues shared from friends) - Management gets nearly zero training, especially on creating an inclusive workplace - Expectation to deliver projects to dates the team had zero say in, that the product team just says "get it done" without knowing any of the technical requirements and before project scoping - Will not publish diversity numbers - Racist & sexist comments in meetings and Slack threads *constantly*

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Smartsheet Response
5y
I’m concerned to hear you describe such a negative experience at Smartsheet. While we can’t speak to any specifics when it comes to HR issues (due to privacy and confidentiality), I can assure you that we take seriously any and all concerns that are raised—including investigating and taking corrective action as appropriate. This perceived lack of transparency is a common challenge, as we are limited in what we’re able to share broadly. If an employee has concerns they don’t think are being addressed, I encourage them to share them via the feedback mechanism they are most comfortable with, whether that’s their manager or their People Business Partner. Although we don’t currently publish our diversity numbers externally, we do update and share this information internally on a regular basis. Much of the DEI work we’ve done in the past year has been laying the groundwork for the more visible and tangible work that will follow, which includes expanding our DEI team to better support that subsequent work. This area is a top focus for Smartsheet, and all of our senior leaders are deeply invested in (and held accountable to) this work. We’re committed to building more diverse teams and are addressing that at all stages, from attraction and recruitment through to hire and promotion. We’re focused on expanding our existing employee and manager unconscious bias trainings, and have built an unconscious bias checklist into our talent processes for hiring and performance management. This work is ongoing, and I’m confident our efforts will help us continue creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment at Smartsheet. —Megan Hansen, Chief People & Culture Officer

Explore other reviews about Smartsheet

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
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Pros

Great collaborative environment and competitive

Cons

Easily overwhelmed with phone calls, chats, and emails.

1.0
May 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Supportive of AI tooling. I had a great manager. I heard the severance packages are great, but I left of my own volition, so I don’t have personal experience.

Cons

Complete lack of direction or management at the mid to high levels of the company in product and engineering (most everyone left or was pushed out by cronyism from the private equity acquisition). No more equity offered to employees. No opportunities for promotion. They’ve shipped or are shipping most of the core products (including the core “sheet” aka Grid app) to India and have laid off tons of employees (somewhere between 12% and 15% of the company). Upper management did the thing where they had the US developers interview tons of people out of India, and then about half a year later laid off tons US developers, including several of the people that did the interviews. Upper management said that the India teams would be working on other projects, but clearly that was a lie. They laid off people without consulting their managers, or their manager’s managers, and without knowing what team they actually worked on or what they did. So entire teams were laid off unbeknownst to them. Very quick and poor handoffs to India, if any. You will likely be working on multiple teams at once, or moved to multiple teams during your time there in short periods of time. On-call can be a nightmare. There is no culture of any kind. Basically do not work here, whether you’re out of the US, India, or Bulgaria (the main countries for developers).

1
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Smartsheet Response
1w
Thank you for your honesty. While we’re glad that you had a great team and the tools you needed, it’s incredibly tough to hear that other aspects of your experience were less than great. To your point about equity, we’d like to clarify that we do offer a limited equity pool with specific eligibility. That said, navigating transition is already tough, and adding in other aspects like global shifts and new leadership can make it feel even harder. We know the dust hasn’t completely settled, and we understand that we have a lot of work to do to repair employee trust and morale. We’ve set off on that journey, and we appreciate all of this feedback along the way. Thank you, and we wish you all the best in your next chapter.
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