Spokeo reviews

3.8

62% would recommend to a friend

(37 total reviews)
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Harrison Tang

70% approve of CEO

55% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

37 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

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1.0
Jul 15, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- You'll receive a paycheck. - It is very easy to get hired in customer care. They will hire almost anyone due to the high employee turnover rate. - For the first 2-3 months employees treated great, management will be super nice and welcoming. During this time, the most challenging aspect of the job is dealing with angry customers.

Cons

- After a few months you'll be used to handling difficult/angry customers, but this is when you will notice that the work environment is completely toxic. Management is no longer warm and inviting and you’ll start to dread coming in to work. - Promotions are based upon nepotism and are frequently awarded to those who snitch on co-workers, rather than those who have demonstrated high-quality performance in their job. Even if you’ve worked there for years, if there is someone in management that doesn't like you for any reason, a newer hire will get the promotion regardless of their qualifications. Supervisors will encourage you to “keep up the great work” and “promotions will come your way.” For me, the final straw was being told by my supervisor that I was a “shoo-in” for a promotion (after already being misled about multiple opportunities previously) and once again the position went to someone with less experience and qualifications. This was after working there over two years. After that point I did not pursue any further promotions. - Those who have worked there for a long period of time (3+ years) are likely to be fired eventually because the company simply doesn't want to continue to pay them higher wages when they can pay more recently hired employees less. - The human resources department is totally incompetent and looks out only for the company's interests. Even with straightforward concerns, such as medical leaves or requesting accommodations for disabilities, it is an uphill battle with HR. Emails go unreturned, and even when you are able to set a meeting, the HR rep may not even show up. I was denied a promotion based upon a documented pre-existing medical condition. When I discussed this with HR, I simply stated that it was not legal to discriminate due to medical conditions and the reaction of the HR rep said everything - it was along the lines of “what makes you think that?” in a completely abrasive manner. This was a very obvious attempt at defending a wrongful and illegal action. Sexual harassment complaints are not handled thoroughly. Once again, HR proves that they are only looking out for the company and not individual employees and their well-being in the workplace. On one particular occasion, I shared some personal information with a co-worker in confidence, only to discover that the information had then been shared with other employees. Because I wasn't comfortable approaching that individual at the time, I requested that HR help mediate the situation. I was assured by the HR rep that they would speak to this individual. About 6 weeks go by and I had heard nothing back from HR or the person who had shared my private info. I assumed that the HR rep did their job and followed up as I had requested, so I thought that that individual simply did not care enough to apologize or attempt to resolve the issue. To make things more uncomfortable, this person was soon to be transferred to my own department. At that point I decided I would try to clear the air, even though it put me in an unnecessarily uncomfortable position. As it turns out, HR never spoke to that person and they were unaware that they had ever hurt me so badly. I received an apology and I forgave my co-worker for their mistake. What I will never forgive is the incompetence of the HR rep whose lack of actions caused a great deal of pain and resentment that could have easily been avoided had they done what was requested and promised. If you ever have to deal with HR at this company, be sure to stay on top of them and frequently follow up to ensure they are doing their job. - If you have any career aspirations, skills, talents, and/or education you should avoid working for Spokeo’s customer care department. You will be used solely for your abilities and will never see any advancement.

1.0
Apr 5, 2018

Real Life Game of Thrones

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free food and snacks. If you stay a lowly peon and out of sight you'll be fine. The second you show some talent and upper management becomes aware of you get ready to play the game of thrones.

Cons

What started off as your typical cool tech start-up ended up becoming a real-life nightmare. As every other real reviews have stated there is some real life Game of Thrones action going on here. If you're best friends of or related to the founders then you get to pick your title and position. If not, then prepare to work your life off in order to make up for the slack of those unqualified team members and then later get let-go for non-performance. To succeed here, you don't need to be good at your job, you just need to know how to kiss up to those in power and always have a scapegoat to blame.

3.0
Jul 13, 2017

Not bad, not great, good pay

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free food and drink Casual office environment, ping pong, foosball, pool, etc. Parties with booze (people get fired sometimes lol) Pay is generally quite good. Spokeo has a hard time recruiting talent because of its business model, leaving them very reliant on H1B. Some nice coworkers (shout out to Byron Wang) Spokeo is not a super hard place to work All things considered, as long as you can keep your opinions and aspirations to yourself, Spokeo is a not a bad place to work. If you’re so full of good ideas, go start your own company.

Cons

While casual office environment is nice, some come to work in sweatpants, and fart/burp out loud Business model is a scam where a user puts in a credit card for a “Free trial” which then turns into a paying subscription for a product that the person is not even using (unlike Netflix, which people use). People also hate what Spokeo does (selling private information) CEO is kind of crazy and wants to “beat Google” No one in management is receptive to negative feedback or ideas which contradict their own, which is within their own right as mangement/founders Spokeo “Culture Team” means well, but really, how many people do you need buying booze and planning parties. References to the “Spokeo family” are like empty words when you consider the business model Continual frustrations from its own backwardness and a general sense of “is this really happening” on a day-to-day basis.

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Spokeo Response
8y
Thank you so much for taking the time to give us feedback about your current experience at Spokeo. We’re glad to hear that you are enjoying many of the great perks we offer. We’re committed to providing a fun office environment where our team can unwind, have fun and enjoy delicious food after (or to break up) a hard day’s work. Unfortunately, the unending and absolutely delicious food might lead to some flatulence and we’re really sorry about that. We’d recommend a friendly conversation with HR (or those guilty of the gas releases) if it really is disturbing or uncomfortable so the problem can be addressed. All jokes aside, we want to make sure everyone is comfortable and enjoys their work space. This is why we’re also fine with our team wearing whatever they feel comfortable in (so long as they don’t make others feel uncomfortable) to the office. We’re focused on performance and productivity much more than we are on office attire. It’s really important for us to address your concerns about the business model and product offerings. As we’ve discussed consistently at Spokeo, we are aware that the entire concept of people search and online data makes some uncomfortable, and we work hard to address any concerns about privacy both through our opt-out and through our business partnerships. We believe strongly in our mission to make the world more transparent and we are committed to continuing to offer a product that assists users every day with reuniting, connecting and protecting themselves. We are working on providing more transparency in the payment options, and as you’ve been briefed in our monthly company meetings, future iterations of Spokeo are providing much more transparency as to where our data comes from. We’re excited about the changes coming our way and that you’re on board with us. We hope you take the time to share your concerns in our semi-annual engagement surveys or with management/HR (we love Byron too!). Thanks again for taking the time to share.
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