Private Equity and New Leadership is slowly destroying Smartsheet - Director, Social Media Smartsheet Employee Review

1.0
14 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work / Life Balance Remote culture (although rumor is that this will change soon for people who are close to a hub office) Good experience going through a lot of change management - from leadership switchovers to messaging / narrative positioning, and going from public to private. Decent benefits, but those changed recently for the worse too.

Cons

Lack of transparency from leadership, despite improved communication to the organization Lots of backstabbing and playing favorites amongst leadership, some have more say and influence than others Lack of innovation on the product level, competitors have superior AI capabilities and quickly taking over / replacing Smartsheet Culture has significantly changed - "high performance" just means people work more and isn't about impact or outcomes, it's more about doing the jobs of people who have left

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Smartsheet Response
4mo
We are happy to hear that you enjoyed our flexible working policy, work life balance, and your experience working here. We recognize that change has taken place over the last year, and our leadership team is committed to communicating a clear vision, which they’ve done through increased AMA and Town Hall sessions. We also have to disagree that there is a lack of innovation with our product, as we were named a leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Collaborative Work Management. We are hyperfocused on our product growth and how we can expand our AI capabilities, and this is only the beginning.

Explore other reviews about Smartsheet

5.0
25 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Annual Bonus equal to approx. 10% of income Promotion opportunities Flexible schedule Generous PTO/Sick time Paid Holidays

Cons

Recent constant changes at current Metrics weighed too heavily on career High workload, expect to carry a backlog

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Smartsheet Response
4d
It's so great to hear that you're enjoying our benefits and development opportunities, but also apprecaite that you've highlighted some areas where we could improve. As we continue to refine how we measure success, we take your feedback seriously and want to assure you that our priority is ensuring our targets are fair and realistic. Thank you for your feedback and all of your hard work here!
1.0
26 May 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).

1
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Smartsheet Response
4d
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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