Actively misled employees about job security - Content Producer Babylist Employee Review

2.0
22 Sept 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The product is lovely and the focus on customer experience is a real priority. I appreciate that they use less fear-based marketing than other companies involved in the baby industry.

Cons

I know that it is normal for tech jobs to have no job security, but I thought a female-led company that referred to its employees as, "the Babylist family," would be different: nope! I saw someone who had worked tons of unpaid overtime for the company during its very early years passed over for well-deserved promotion. I saw a designer who had been with the company almost from the start fired "so we can move up to the next level" rather than being given any talent development resources or performance plan. Warehouse associates were fired without warning, in order to move the warehouse to a cheaper location. I was fired, immediately following a very positive performance review, because they decided to "pivot to a new strategy." They didn't seem to care about breaking a number of promises they had made to me when I was hired. My friend who gave them years of dedicated work was fired because she no longer fit into their "scaling strategy," I guess. If you choose to work here, don't count on even a tiny bit of job security. Expect to be fired at any moment, regardless of what they told you yesterday about your performance. Not even programmers are exempt. I saw a programmer disappear soon after being hired-- not due to performance, but just due to some sort of clash of personalities.

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Babylist Response
5y
Hi there, I really appreciate this feedback, although it’s not what I would have hoped. These sound similar to situations that took place several years ago, when we were a team of 20 people. You’re right, over the years we’ve had times where the needs of the business changed and that affected people’s jobs and feedback was very dependent on the manager. It sounds like you were surprised and so didn’t receive clear or sufficient conversations about performance. I’m sorry for that. The business has doubled every year for the past four years, and we’re now a team of 80 with much more consistent and experienced people managers. Having a solid feedback loop was one of the many things we needed to put in place to support that growth. Our current leadership and managers provide their teams regular performance feedback, including a quarterly review cadence, so people don’t have the experience you had of being surprised by feedback. Do we have more we can do? Always. And I’m also really proud of the progress we’ve made on this and great people management in general over the years. This feedback puts in perspective how far we’ve come. Thank you again. All my best, Natalie

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5.0
5 May 2026
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Pros

Dynamic culture, very forward-thinking. Excellent dev tools

Cons

Oscillating priorities at times. Things can change quickly.

2.0
26 Mar 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Babylist used to be a fantastic place to work. Great growth opportunities, great comp. Understanding managers, you used to be able to even have coffee/virtual lunch with the founder! I will say they are still growing and making the right business decisions with what they’re doing.

Cons

Treats employees 100% as replaceable, which I understand, but you should value them! There’s also a constant fear for your job because of so many people being randomly let go. When I was first hired, communication was clear and performance plans were used. Now you’ll log onto a 1:1 with your manager and randomly get fired for nothing.

8
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