Pros
Some fantastic people work at Perlego, and the product/mission is genuinely inspiring. If you care about education, and access to learning materials, then it's great to be working day-to-day on a product that is a force for good in this arena.
Cons
Sadly, in spite of a great product, the experience of working at Perlego is negatively impacted by an immature and inexperienced leadership team. The CEO and CSO will insert themselves into the minutiae of projects and show preference for their opinion over people's expertise and/or data which contradicts their opinions. This not only frustrates employees and diminishes the outcomes of work, but slows down progress on projects in turn. The directives from the leadership team are also very reactive - they lack a strategic vision, and this results in chaotic and haphazard decision making that isn't in the best interests of the company, or its users. People who buddy up to those in the leadership team will progress within in the company, but anybody who pushes back on their thinking or ways of working will be iced out. This results in strange nepotistic dynamics that are demoralising to work within. The weekly company all hands meetings became almost excruciating for the false displays of "good vibes", and the CEO's inappropriate jokes become genuinely unbearable. At one company quarterly a video was shown of a number of Perlego employees taking somebody's work, printing it off, and ceremonially burning it outside the office. After watching this video, we were all encouraged to laugh and applaud this and the COO, with glee, said "what else can we burn!?". This, in a nutshell, is what Perlego's work environment is like. There is a culture of bullying and immaturity that comes from the top down, and if you don't hop on this wagon you are considered a persona non grata. There is an enduring inconsistency with how Perlego rolls out policies, and its advertising of things like "flexible working" is a smokescreen for what is in fact a very high paced and demanding work environment where people are encouraged and rewarded for working long hours. All of the best and most inspiring people I worked with either left the company out of frustration, or were fired. There are a few good people left, and I genuinely hope that things improve for them in terms of the toxic dynamics that have sept their way into so many aspects of what could otherwise have been a great place to work.
