Horrible, traumatic layoff experience - Product Designer Hootsuite Employee Review

1.0
8 Sept 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A lot of institutional inertia and complacent workers, so you can get away with doing very little.

Cons

The layoffs - they went on a massive hiring spree, investing in a lot of great talent who had the potential to turn a dying product around, and then promptly laid off 30% of their workforce months later. Little severance was given in a very chilly hiring climate, leaving many workers scrambling for jobs trying to explain their 3-4 month tenure at HS, making them less hireable. The CPO was clearly brought on for this possibility, and I'd be wary of joining a company with such poor planning and a poor financial runway leading to a layoff of 1/3 of their employees. Processes to retrieve portfolio artifacts have been protracted and difficult and no substantial support has been extended to laid off workers to find new positions. With such poor planning, bad experimentation and product strategy on the inside, and poor product strategy, you'd be better off joining Sprout (or literally any other SaaS company on earth).

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5.0
9 Oct 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay nice atmosphere with everyone

Cons

Good work envious with everyone

2.0
22 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Strong brand awareness in social media management - Good people on many teams - Flexible remote work environment - Opportunity to learn in a fast-moving company

Cons

- The Talkwalker merger never seemed to have a clear plan for how the two companies would actually work together. Even more than a year later, there still was not a simple or consistent story about the combined company, products, or customer value. - Leadership often seemed more focused on social media and public visibility than on running the company and improving execution internally. - A lot of the marketing leadership team came from agency backgrounds and did not seem to have much real SaaS operating experience, especially around product marketing, lifecycle marketing, or long-term growth strategy. - Many employees were afraid to speak up when they saw problems with a process or strategy. There was not always a culture where people felt safe challenging bad decisions. - Teams across Product, Marketing, Sales, and Leadership often did not seem aligned, which led to confusion, shifting priorities, and slow execution. - There were many smart and hardworking people at the company, but constant changes and unclear direction made it hard to move quickly or build momentum.

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