Improving Shareholder Value ... while destroying corporate culture and employee moral - Anonymous employee Backblaze Employee Review

2.0
11 Mar 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I appreciate, as a shareholder, the drive to cut costs and increase revenue HOWEVER the methods being taken seem like they're ripped out of a 1st year business student's playbook - immediate, short-term, tweaks to the business that gut the workforce but show positively in earnings calls and earnings statements. There is some cleanup of legacy employees who have acted like roadblocks to the scaling up of the company but this is a mixed bag (see "Cons")

Cons

Newer leadership is decimating the existing organizational structure to purge the organization of "legacy people" for better/worse so they can install their own direct reports. Some practices, not unfamiliar to most experienced people, are unethical and borderline illegal. Leadership will retroactively tank reviews for high-performing individuals, citing personal opinions and erroneous data to justify reductions in force (and prevent future lawsuits). As existing employees watch their colleagues disappear weekly, they have zero psychological safety or motivation to continue performing well. Something that's eroding morale is seeing job postings for non-US locations with titles that match existing roles.

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Backblaze Response
1y
Thank you for your contribution; we appreciate your concerns. The changes introduced over the last few years ensure that we are a solid and sustainable company in the long term. We’ve tried to do this transparently during all-hands meetings and through written communications. I understand that times of change can create uncertainty and concern, especially for those who’ve been with the company through multiple growth phases. We are expanding our global presence and looking to hire the best talent worldwide. This includes expanding our hiring efforts globally. While this has been communicated previously, we acknowledge some may need further information. Leadership decisions - particularly around team structure - are not taken lightly. That said, your concerns around fairness and transparency are essential to understand. Any allegations of unethical behavior or compromised performance processes are taken seriously. We encourage you to share more through internal channels, including your HR Business Partner or our anonymous reporting tool (TinyPulse) if you're open to it. If you feel that your individual performance review was improperly conducted or disagree with your supervisor’s assessment, please let your business partner or HR know so they can investigate. We’re also onboarding a new employee growth and development tool that should provide a broader view of feedback and drive more conversations. - Robert Fitt, HR (sorry for the wall of text, Glassdoor doesn't allow line breaks)

Explore other reviews about Backblaze

5.0
4 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Excellent company! The people you work with are fantastic. I have an amazing manager and work with some highly skilled people.

Cons

Sometimes work life balance can get skewed.

2.0
11 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It seemed the company was on an upswing

Cons

Morale is in the dumps. Layoffs have severed trust in the company. CEO has turned over his entire staff, meanwhile the issue is with a failure of vision, attention to project management execution, and meddling in the roadmap that produced no benefits

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