It pains me to write this. I've been with the company for a long time, but things are different now.
Layoffs every 6 months, outsourcing, offshoring, disappearing benefits, no raises, promotions, or bonuses for 3+ years.
In fact, you can no longer be promoted unless there is a role posted, we are hiring for it, and you apply. That is not even a promotion, that means no matter how long you have worked at Sonos, you cannot be promoted.
As we saw in the last layoff, many people did indeed inadvertently get promoted. They were sycophant managers who became directors after middle management and principals were slaughtered for being too expensive. Many of them have no demonstrated leadership competence, they just fit the bill and have made enough noise to build their empires. Many of them are internally reviled, and many of their new employees are grossly unhappy with this new arrangement that has allowed these directors to buy their second Mercedes or a beach house.
Things are so bad now that the company is now displaying "Why I'm Still Here" essays from employees on the TVs. What healthy company displays such crap?
Want to understand why the culture isn't the same? Because people create the culture, and so many of the most beloved people at Sonos have been let go.
In particular, this company has demonstrated that if you were at the company for too long, and made "too much" (which is laughably below market rate), you should be let go.
The only people who are well paid who weren't let go were sycophants that promised their bosses that offshoring would solve all their problems.
The company has no more direction, and the interim CEO may be "too little, too late." The products we are working on do not make sense and it's never been made clear to us how these products are going to compete and make Sonos money. Without people buying and loving our stuff, there is no more Sonos.
I wander the halls of the office as if it were a university and I graduated a long time ago. The place doesn't feel the same anymore.