High Turn Over for a Reason - Anonymous employee Perchwell Employee Review

1.0
30 Jun 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Friday lunches (because it's the only time people talk to each other all week) -Free snacks -Free coffee (regular and nespresso machine) -"commuter benefits" (discussed more below) -Genuinely good, funny, kind, people in the office--despite the poor work environment.

Cons

Economics: -below-market pay -Commuter benefits don't actually cover the cost of a MTA card (it covers the cost from about two years ago). -Health insurance is so bad you go to the doctor and even they are astounded by how much your co-pay is (read: go the public market place, you'll pay less and get better insurance). leadership: -CEO has little respect for anyone in the company. Does not socialize with the staff at lunch, doesn't welcome new staff with more than a greeting their first day, and talks negatively about every former employee that has quit(ie: petty). -CEO does not listen to anyone. If you provide advice (based on your years of experience in your role or prior work experience in start-ups), CEO does the exact opposite. -Only form of communication from CEO is through Slack; it's always public and is always intended to humiliate or undermine employees. -Has very little empathy for and does not care about clients. Openly mocks them at times. Office Culture: -No one talks in the office. If you drop a pen, it echoes through the whole place. - Getting team members to work together or working across teams is like pulling teeth. No one has a vested interest in helping each other succeed --which, in turn, destroys morale and creates an environment that does not foster long-term company growth. - No one cares about you. Period. You have bare minimum sick/vacation allowed by NY state law(rolled together into one lump sum of:10 days which you accrue by 3.3hrs per pay period. That's right, you don't even get a full day after your first month of work). If you are sick, say goodbye to your vacation days. -Leadership has ZERO transparency. From the financial health of the company to people being hired...we never know what's going. There have been many days when a new employee shows up and we had no idea it was happening. Not announced on slack, not announced ever. VERY unwelcoming to new folks. -Average tenure of EXPERIENCED employees is less than 1 year. Mostly because people with experience aren't taken seriously and because they have business acumen, they point out areas of the company that need fixing, which tends to grind the gears of management. -In addition to that last one: don't tell management that things need fixing. They 1. won't believe you, 2. will do everything in their power to make you leave after that and 3. will consistently tell you that you've never told them about any of it, even though you record every single conversation you have in docs or take notes while they are watching you take notes on the conversation (read: management gaslights). -No growth opportunities. Period. You will be stagnant here. It's really attractive working for a start-up because there is so much to get done (literally the line every new employee at Perchwell says) but you quickly realize that Perchwell's management does not encourage employee growth, does not encourage employee ideas, and does not encourage employee ownership in the company at all. This is illustrated well by the lack of 1. Company Mission/Values, 2. Lack of company OKRs 3. Lack of company meetings 4. Lack of teamwork -ZERO flexibility. No work from home (even though 90% of what you do in software doesn't require you to be in an office and considering no one talks to each other, it's strange that you aren't allowed to work from home). Office hours are 10-630 (or 9pm if they rope you into that mentality) with very little understanding for anything in your life that might pop-up. -If you want to be intellectual stimulated...this is not the place. -Management does not support structure and record keeping of any kind. If you attempt to make protocol or create transparency, you are forced out. -Women: You are not welcome nor respected here. It doesn't take a woman to recognize this either. This list really only scratches the surface of the problems at Perchwell. Proceed with caution.

Explore other reviews about Perchwell

5.0
10 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Perchwell is a startup that lives its valued - the company prioritizes being product centric and building with customers. This is an industry that hasn't meaningfully evolved in decades, so it's a remarkably fresh approach that allows all front-line teams to add a lot of value. Leadership here is very present. It's not in a performative way — they're in the weeds, willing to help, and hold themselves to the same bar they hold everyone else. That tone carries through the whole team. People take their work seriously, care deeply about getting it right, and somehow manage to make it fun in the process. The work is hard and the standards are high, but there's a real energy here that comes from being on a team that actually likes what it's doing. The culture rewards people who take initiative, act with purpose, and care about craft. If that's how you're wired, Perchwell is one of the rare places it's expected -- fun startup to build at in NYC.

Cons

It's definitely a startup. People work hard and the lines between on and off hours can blur... being available after hours comes with the territory. The team also holds itself to expectations expected to stay on the cutting edge, which right now means leaning hard into AI and how it can be applied to the work. That's exciting if you're naturally curious and want to grow, though will be an adjustment but if you're looking for a more defined environment

2.0
7 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Interesting problems to work on Some of the people were very nice free snacks and coffee

Cons

Leadership constantly changes priorities, constant fire-drills with no respect for employee's time, claims to be a data driven company and then underinvests in data, hadn't figured out how to scale, and don't think about employee's interests or career progression.

4
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All