"Do The Right Thing" - HA! Sales Professionals- Look Elsewhere. - Senior Account Executive BambooHR Employee Review

1.0
3 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good product and a fair amount of leads coming in. Product direction looks positive.

Cons

To begin, I have been with BambooHR for several years now and have loved the experience up until now. I have performed well and have learned a TON about sales. The purpose of my message today is not to act as a disgruntled employee, as I really am not. I think BambooHR has an amazing product, it catalyzed my sales career and opened up a lot of doors for my future. For those reasons, I am grateful. The point of this message is to caution any sales professionals considering a position in sales at BambooHR to look elsewhere. You'll find better pay, and likely find leadership that wants you to succeed. BambooHR is already known in the Utah valley for having unusually low pay for tech sales. They are also notorious for having high goals and putting reps on performance plans at the drop of a hat. Well buckle up because it just got a whole lot worse. According to RepVue AEs, AE2s, and SAEs are averaging about 44% to goal across the sales floor. I would say that sounds about accurate. In previous years you'd have to perform at AT LEAST 50% to goal each month to keep your job. (you can see the problem here). Just in for 2023! That number is now 70%! 70% goal attainment to keep your job. 70% is EXTREMLY high for any Saas Sales role. Good job BambooHR! Whats 2023 going to be like? There recently was a meeting to discuss compensation for sales reps in 2023 and in summary, nearly everyone on the floor is getting either a pay cut or demotion. BambooHR currently has around 140 sales reps, with about 40 of those being Senior Account Executives. A total of 4 SAEs hit their 2022 OTE targets. That is 10% of SAEs. Why do I preface with this information? During the SKO in early Feb, 2023, compensation changes were announced that RAISED the goals for top performers, making OTE for 2023 nearly unobtainable. Moving forward with the new goals, if you aren't achieving at least 83% to goal each month you will be demoted into a new "SAE1" level and get a 12,000 pay cut on your annual salary. If you are hitting from 83%-100% to goal on average (which is VERY UNCOMMON remember that 10% figure from above), congrats, your salary stays the same (completely ignoring inflation of 7+%) but on top of that, your OTE goes DOWN by $9,000. For the reps achieving above 100% to goal? You're now an SAE3. So congrats on those 4 total SAEs on their promotion, everyone else gets a pay cut. In a time that families are struggling to pay mortgages and put food on the table for their families, BambooHR sales leaderships thought it was a good idea to cut everyone's pay. In 2023, the CEO made it clear that BambooHR would be pushing harder to align with their core values, one of which, is "Do The Right Thing". This, BambooHR, is NOT doing the right thing. The best part? They started the meeting by saying "We are going to have to work extra hard this year, because sales in 2023 are going to be very rocky". then proceed to tell everyone even if they perform as well as they did last year, they're getting either a pay cut, a demotion, or losing their job. Its almost laughable. Talk about taking care of your reps, right? So let me get this straight, you know that 2023 is going to be a rocky time for sales, but you decide to cut peoples pay and make goal attainment even harder. After almost 4 years at BambooHR and being in the top 10-15% of performers for years, this is the last straw. Looks like its time to dust off the resume. Needless to say, the sales floor is very unhappy and I'm sure BambooHR is going to lose most of their top sales talent in 2023.

Explore other reviews about BambooHR

5.0
1 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people and a great work-life balance.

Cons

I really don’t have any cons.

3.0
27 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you find the right pockets of culture and leadership, you will LOVE it at Bamboo. The Marketing, Technology, HR, and Finance organizations have fantastic leaders who truly care about their employees. There are many opportunities to grow within these departments and career paths are clearly defined. Pay is not great, but the benefits are amazing.

Cons

There are SO many snakes in the grass here. Especially within the CX and Sales organizations. CX and Sales leaders are always looking for ways to hurt each other and they do - frequently. The organization is is going through a big growth phase, but it means that the pressure is INSANE right now. There are too many projects happening at once and no one cares about how it affects other areas of the org.

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