Not Truly International Company - Anonymous employee idealo internet Employee Review

2.0
24 Jan 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice kitchen/cafeteria area, great coffee, growing number of training opportunities. Relatively stable company - few mass firings or sudden market closures (for four years or so). An internet company with a Betriebsrat (Works Council)! Who protect employees in a variety of ways, and mostly hold management to account when possible. Company's embrace of Agile working is admirable but slow in some depts. Company is at least aware of the climate crisis and that something needs to be done, if not fully aware of their complicity in it by encouraging e-commerce. Their reasoning that they are "just price journalists" is flawed. Great commitment to the importance of work/life balance - they really look down on overtime and encourage people to live their lives outside of work.

Cons

Idealo is essentially a German company with an international section, which is its medium and long-term problem. Utter failure of trying to include English as a co-first language and attempts to foster an international culture. Ultimately leads to company not attracting quality international talent, which leads to problems in International, particularly at management level. Salaries particularly in Content and Marketing depts pitifully low and not representative of the living costs of an expat in Berlin in 2020. Little room for negotiation at offer stage or in the role itself - mgmt and the People Dept (HR) will use any means to disempower workers from asking for fair salaries. New emphasis on personal development and staff training not matched financially - they want you knowing and doing more things, but for the same pay. Company's "Doppelspitze" structure of dual managers leads to squeeze on wage structures as well as creation of "busy work" for these extra middle managers, usually at the cost of normal workers. Management positions will inevitably go to German men, across most departments.

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idealo internet Response
6y
Dear colleague, First of all, thanks a lot for sharing your personal experience at idealo. We value your feedback because it's an integral part of our company, and only feedback can make us stronger. Please let us comment on a few things that you have mentioned. Inclusiveness of international colleagues. It's a fair point to say that we need to become better if we want to live up to our aspiration of being a diverse and inclusive employer in all means. Language-wise we have already started to establish English as a company language further. We have to if we want this company to grow! You've mentioned the "Doppelspitze" in your comment. It is a reasonably successful instrument that allows people in a leadership position to find the right balance between work and private life - especially for leaders who are also a mother or father, regardless of their provenance. There is evidence that we are on the right track with this approach. Compensation and benefits is a topic, and we are continually working on it! Recently we have increased the amount of vacation for all employees to 30 days. We have also decided that no one at idealo should earn less than 2,200.00 € per month (full-time, regular contract). Further, we have started a joint salary project with our works council to develop a salary concept for idealo that reflects our culture and helps us to hire and retain talented people. We would appreciate it if you could share more context and details of your personal experience. Please feel free to get in touch with your People Business Partner. Otherwise, you can reach out to the works council contact person if you would like to keep it anonymously. Best Regards Your idealo People Team

Explore other reviews about idealo internet

5.0
22 Nov 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great work life balance, great engineers

Cons

Management can improve their communication

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idealo internet Response
1y
Thank you for your feedback! We are glad to hear that you enjoy working at idealo. Best regards, Your idealo People Team
1.0
19 Dec 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It used to be a good company, maybe they still have some common sense that will awaken.

Cons

They let Axel Springer's claws inside the management, and they no longer cared about the employees. They sent a survey about coming back to the office, but it was obvious just a formality, because they disregarded its results. Works Council tried to negotiate the terms, the amount of days, work abroad, but the management eventually said "accept what we want or we'll make you come 5 days". Sounds pretty illegal and unethical to me. They reduced the work abroad from 180 days a year, to 20. They want us in the office and reduced work abroad for NO REASON. The company has great results the way it was, and this change will only bring negative impact. The office, although nice, is not a place where developers enjoy being and can focus. It literally went from a company I used to recommend to anyone, and reject job offers, to some sort of dictatorship. I would not recommend it to anyone anymore.

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