WillowTree Reviews

2.7

31% would recommend to a friend

(471 total reviews)
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Tobias A. Dengel

39% approve of CEO

26% positive business outlook

WillowTree has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 471 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The WillowTree employee rating is 30% below average for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

471 reviews
1.0
Jan 29, 2024

Leadership problem

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some of the client work is interesting and there is an opportunity to learn skills and pad your resume.

Cons

Once you spend a year or so here you realize that the main problem is the senior leadership. Most of them have been here since the company was much smaller and were not hired into their role with a proven track record of leading public companies (which let’s face it we are now). They have absolutely no qualifications for the role and are making it up as they go along. As such, the company has no direction. Every 3 months we get a new strategic initiative announced. When questioned 1:1, senior leaders often are unable to speak to any meaningful detail about this strategy. The c suite pretends they’re on the cutting edge of digital transformation when in fact they’re just parroting buzzwords and trying to ride industry trends. Promotion is not meritocratic but linked to whoever can suck up the most to the longtime leaders. How is anyone with any talent hired into this organization supposed to respect people with no ability who are for some reason leading them? Quality of work is unsurprisingly suffering as a result. Feels like this was a company started by engineers that became successful because of the quality of their work and used to attract top talent because of its great culture. That culture has now been ruined by an acquisition, layoffs, and the general tone deaf inability of the c suite to do anything about the fact that most of the employees distrust and dislike them. They ask for critical feedback of their leadership but don’t provide anonymous channels to do so besides a suggestions box that nobody reads, or take any action to do anything about the issues brought up. This contributes to the general sense of feeling like you’re being constantly lied to by leadership and have to maintain a facade of being satisfied at your job.

1.0
Jun 27, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some very talented, dedicated individual contributors work here.

Cons

The company was acquired in January of this year, a decision that was allegedly ours in order to fuel growth. Since then, the amazing company culture that was once our incentive to work here despite below average industry pay has been completely reversed and is now hyper toxic. Firstly, layoffs were executed despite years of promises from leadership that this would never happen, and despite one of the stated purposes of the acquisition being to ensure financial security for the company. The executives have done absolutely nothing to rebuild this trust and don’t seem to realize that nobody now trusts any of their decisions or motives, and that they’re doing anything except trying to ensure that they all get even richer. Secondly, said layoffs were handled in the worst possible manner, with employees aware they were happening but waiting around for 3 hours watching their email to see if they’d been selected, in essence a mock execution. Hard to believe that anyone with basic human empathy, never mind experience running a company, thought this was a good idea. Leadership touts a “culture of feedback” but feedback from employees is not valued or listened to by senior leadership. In fact, growth-oriented feedback meant to help people get better is taken and weaponized against people who receive it. Nobody in middle or upper management cares about whether a good job is actually being done or whether we are being innovative, they only care about the appearance of doing a good job and covering themselves. The politics and Machiavellian backstabbing are horrible. Leadership thinks we are doing something unique and different here vs every other consultancy but we’re not, we’re just being paid less. If you want to work somewhere that people actually believe in what they’re doing and are building something cool, go work for a start up. If you want to work in a toxic environment with the threat of layoffs, go work in big tech, because at least you’ll have a massive paycheck and stock to help you sleep at night. I wouldn’t recommend working here. Many people like myself who survived the layoffs are looking for another job.

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WillowTree Response
2y
I am understand your frustration around the layoffs and I am sure you know it was absolutely the last thing we wanted to do. I accept and wear the criticism around the layoffs. However, I do disagree with the characterization of "toxic culture". Every company has issues they are working through, but all our internal feedback and even some of the most ardent criticism of our layoffs often refer to the extraordinary people and culture that has always been and always will be WillowTree.... - TD
5.0
Aug 18, 2021

I feel valued and motivated

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company-wide practice of values. I trust and can depend on my co-workers. A very psychologically safe environment. Senior executives take action on insights and actively problem solve when an issue is brought to them. I feel like my voice is heard. There are no surprises in what is expected of my role, and how I can progress my career. Expansive opportunities to grow and learn different skill-sets and support to become an expert in many different areas. The drive and hunger to be the best and celebrate each other's unique perspectives and value we bring to teams. The acknowledgements are plentiful for small or large efforts. Project retrospectives to reflect on how we can improve performance or reduce stress. Incredibly talented co-workers across the whole organization who are open to share knowledge anytime one-on-one or lead interesting lunch and learns!

Cons

Sometimes the work I do doesn't feel impactful on a global scale. Despite company efforts to assist marginalized communities. I think there is room to grow in this area. If you're moving from a different country the immigration support is lacking. You're on your own to ensure you can be employed and stay employed at WillowTree which is very stressful. I would love to update this review with a new one if anything changes regarding this area.

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WillowTree Response
4y
Thanks for the kind review! And thank you for the thoughts on how we can increase support for immigration. We will redouble our efforts in this area. - TD
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Glassdoor has 529 WillowTree reviews submitted anonymously by WillowTree employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if WillowTree is right for you.