Great benefits don’t outweigh toxic culture - Anonymous employee Criteo Employee Review

2.0
May 9, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great benefits for US employees. General culture of respect for time off (due to it being a French Company). Really interesting and valuable experience working at a truly international company.

Cons

Frenetic energy of a start up + lack of transparency, tons of red-tape and endless politicking = exhausting environment where very little meaningful work gets done. I honestly lost count of the number of times I was asked to do something not-strategic and/or frankly non-sensical for “optics”. This environment where politicking and infighting reigns supreme there is so much wasted talent and even perhaps worse - I’ve seen multiple humble and eager employees slowly fade to resigned, jaded and gossipy. The lack of leadership and autonomy for execution really wore down a lot of people. Also workplace bullies have been consistently promoted so long as they are well connected. I don’t think that this is consistent across the entire organization but there are large pockets where this is true. My advice to anyone considering working for Criteo - be really thorough with interviewing potential managers and peers and if you have any red flags - honor them they are most likely valid and picking up on a toxic situation. That said, if you don’t have any red flags and your potential team seem well rested happy and productive then go for it you may have found a great pocket of the company (they def exist)! The other major issue with Criteo is it’s downright pitiful show of DEI. Pre 2020 there was absolutely none and even refusal by leadership to share diversity statistics. Post 2020 there are now some weak attempts that feel very much like playing lip service without any commitment to organizational change. It’s also a disturbingly homogenous workforce in the US offices. I personally sat through so many cringe “diversity” programs by well meaning but utterly clueless white people. DEI leadership hire is inexplicably a white woman?! The lack of self awareness by the Company at this point is honestly inexcusable.

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Criteo Response
3y
Hello, First, we would like to thank you for taking the time to sit down and give a feedback. We are happy to see that you enjoyed the international environment in a context of having a good work life balance and respect of your time. We are sorry to hear that you felt that your work and different projects lacked of true purposes and impact. We are trying to make our strategy clear for everyone, and truly think that each and every Criteo make our boat go faster. Criteo has committed to strengthening it's DEI with the appointment of Head of DEI and a team to support this journey, specifically Region DEI Managers in Americas, EMEA and APAC respectively. Just 15 months in, we are committed to continuing to demonstrate our investment in this area, and appreciating that this is a journey that will continue to evolve with the support of our CEO and C-Suite. Our Americas DEI Leader started in January and has already commenced working with Colleges and Partnerships to increase our opportunities towards a more diverse workforce in the US. We conduct our voices survey twice yearly, and we have recently conducted our annual managers survey. The feedback on inclusion has increased, as well as manager effectiveness. At the same time we know we need to continue to improve and therefore we analyse the elements of this feedback (including verbatum comments) closely to address any concerns from a culture or leadership stanpoint.

Explore other reviews about Criteo

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great environment, great people to work with

Cons

Need to go back to office

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Criteo Response
1w
We're thrilled to receive such positive feedback and to know that you've found a place where you can grow and thrive at Criteo. Thank you for sharing and for your trust all these years. It's great to have you on the team!
1.0
Feb 26, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Earlier in my time at Criteo, the culture was a true strength. Teams were collaborative, capable, and invested in delivering value to clients. There are still incredibly smart, hardworking people across the organization when they are given the resources needed to deliver strong work.

Cons

Morale has declined significantly due to direction from upper leadership. Executive communications often feel scripted and disconnected from the realities teams are navigating. Employees are facing burnout, layoffs, no merit compensation growth, and increasing workloads without clear strategic guidance. Leadership layers have expanded in ways that create bottlenecks and slow decision making, while individual contributors lack clarity on priorities and long term direction. Internal mobility has been restricted, limiting opportunities for promotion or role movement at the same time compensation progression has been removed. Salary transparency was removed from internal and external role descriptions, which has impacted trust. Despite positive performance, cost discipline appears to disproportionately affect employees rather than being shared equitably across leadership levels. Additionally, a return to office policy has been implemented, including for employees originally hired as remote. This has added strain and uncertainty for teams.

9
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Criteo Response
3mo
Thank you for sharing such detailed feedback. Every decision we make is taken with our long-term organizational health in mind. From top leadership to individual contributors, we are all committed to building sustainable success for our company and the people in it. Making Criteo a place where everyone can grow is a shared priority, and that’s why we equally value vertical and horizontal career pathways. When it comes to individual recognition, our merit compensation processes are structured and similar across our entire organization to ensure maximum fairness and equity. Since Criteo's success is built on connections, we strongly encourage our teams to come together to boost innovation and collaboration at once. By blending office presence with flexible options, we keep trust at the core of our work approach since everyone remain empowered to manage their time, energy, and schedule the way they see fit. Open feedback helps us improve and move forward, so thank you for sharing yours!
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