Toxic work culture in Product - avoid at all cost - Product Manager Deel Employee Review

1.0
26 Feb 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Not much. One some days, the remote flexibility is nice but comes at the cost of being online all hours and on PTO

Cons

Immature Chaotic Leadership: CPO is disorganized, talks down to people, high-ego and perpetuates unprofessional behaviour. He fails to earn the respect that one would expect from a leader. This applies to the rest of the c-suite as well, many of whom come from Revolut and bring its toxic culture with them. Toxic Work Environment: Individuals may be publicly criticized and shamed on Slack. Minor errors are blown out of proportion and people are penalized. The c-suite is often erratic and issues commands on Slack, showing little respect for employees expertise or allowing them to do their jobs even if they are high-performers. No Autonomy for PMs: Even if you create a great roadmap with data-driven insights, it will not matter until the c-suite gives the green light, which is often based on a whim. Either that or you will have multiple disruptions to the roadmap cause the leadership is not strategic. The best ideas don’t win, politics does Absurd Work-Life Balance: You are expected to work 24/7, not just 365 days a year. If you do not respond on Slack fast enough, management will hassle you on WhatsApp. The Unlimited PTO is not true. Approval for PTO is difficult to come by and often declined or negotiated to fewer days. Product teams are on weekly sprints and engineers are exhausted, but no changes are made. Useless Management: Across all teams, management is ineffective in both coaching and development. Interactions are solely focused on getting work done and lack any intention to coach/develop your team Say what it takes: The company will say whatever it takes to close a deal with clients, whether it be during sales or hiring. Clients often complain about promises that the product does not live up to Disregard for Feedback: The company hides behind its growth as an excuse to dismiss all feedback for change, case in point with the CHRO defensive response with the "not everyone is a fit for Deel" to all negative Glassdoor reviews. There is no indication that management is willing to listen to feedback and make changes. Even the recent Engagement survey was non-anonymous. People wear their jerk badges with pride, showing no self-reflection on their treatment of others or accountability for it. Final Advice: Please take the glass door reviews seriously and don’t be fooled by the company’s flashy success. If you are competent and hard-working, it is recommended that you take your talents elsewhere, where you will be more valued and rewarded. Do not waste your time building a career here at the expense of your mental well-being.

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Deel Response
3y
There is a lot to unpack here in your review, but we appreciate the feedback. Regarding Product leadership and management, we are not aware of politics issues and have had no internal escalations, but we will continue to work with the team to identify engagement trends and where we can improve. Regarding general management competencies, we are highly prioritizing manager training and development in 2023 to educate and support managers to coach, hire, train, onboard, support, and engage their teams as we continue to scale. Being at over 50 technical teams working across product and engineering on the product roadmap this year means we must be better in this effort. Regarding my (Head of People) responses on Glassdoor, I do not intend to be dismissive at all. In fact, the opposite. I hope to cause people to think about the balance of feedback from leavers and those who stay at Deel. We have 2500 people in 94 countries in a fully remote environment. There are certain characteristics and choices that will enable your success in this environment and others that won't. Feedback is critical and we look internally at the balance of the good and the bad and make constant adjustments and investments.

Explore other reviews about Deel

5.0
13 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great management and nice people in the company.

Cons

no cons really but if I have to say one thing, it would be 401K can be higher to match.

2.0
25 May 2026
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Fully remote - Mostly nice and talented people, you can learn a bunch and the atmosphere is good in the beginning - Once you realize you're not ever getting a raise you can get by doing bare minimum - You can write the ceo on slack and he will respond, which is actually insane considering its such a huge company

Cons

- Everyone is underpaid, even the senior directors. They present employee equity as extra compensation, but make it very difficult to sell shares at secondaries. - Raise/promotion policies are set up in a way where most ppl will never get it. I've seen superstar employees get 2% annual raise. The rest got 1%. - Pay is localized, so you can do the same exact job but get pay half of the compensation if you're not based in the US. - It's either employee contract for less money, and you have some employee rights given to you by your country, or more money but you're getting misclassified on a b2b contract and using vaction days when you get sick. The actual work requirements and responsibilities are the same in both cases. - If you're not drinking the koolaid you better fall in line and keep any opinions challenging the status quo to yourself - Manager can get pretty manipulative, they'll say anything to appease you, but will not act in your interest unless it aligns with their internal politics play

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