chernobyl was less toxic than this place - Software Engineer Smartsheet Employee Review

1.0
Aug 16, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

at the peak of the stock, the pay was relatively competitive.

Cons

1. The WORST culture I've seen in my career - The CTO (now CPO) behaves like a dictator. Anyone who disagrees with him, ends up leaving the company. 2. Managers throw their own people under the bus to avoid clashes with the CTO. 3. People are being laid off on a day's notice without any prior warning. 4. Mass exodus of the ones who can't work in this toxic culture.

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Smartsheet Response
3y
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are committed to working in progress at Smartsheet and that includes continuing to nurture our robust culture. We’re proud of how Smartsheeters come together around The Smartsheet Way (our core values and competencies) and believe they’re reflective of both our current culture and the culture we aspire to. I hear your concern around leaders being held accountable for their actions. As you know, taking accountability is one of our core competencies and something we care deeply about. With that, we don’t always get it right and I’m sorry to hear this wasn’t your experience. If you’d like to share more about your time at Smartsheet I encourage you to reach out to people@smartsheet.com to continue the discussion. Thank you for your time investment in Smartsheet and for your feedback. – Megan Hansen, Chief People & Culture Officer

Explore other reviews about Smartsheet

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

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).

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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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