Feels like a Sinking Ship: Getting Worse Quickly - Senior Software Engineer Headspace Employee Review

Thank you for your feedback. We're disappointed to learn of your experience and are sorry you left the organization. We’ve addressed each of your concerns below in hopes of shedding light on some of the decisions that were made and the outcomes of those decisions. Diversity: We were disappointed to recently lose strong talent on the engineering team and among the leaders of the company. It is very common for employees to re-evaluate their careers during a merger. Unfortunately, a direct by-product of any merger process is an increase in employee turnover. Beyond the merger, we are living in a time when many people across companies and industries are opting to make career changes. We are working to limit turnover as much as possible so we can retain the amazing talent that both legacy Headspace and Ginger have brought on since both companies’ existence. In regards to the new executive team, when forming the team in November, culture and values alignment, executive expertise, and alignment with the strategic goals for the future of Headspace Health were all taken into account. While these decisions were difficult, we’re confident that we have both a world-class team and a much simpler organization that will be able to move quickly to execute on the opportunities ahead of us. Additionally, through the changes made to the executive team, we increased diversity at the Executive Team level - five identify as female, one identifies as Black, and two identify as AAPI. Overall, we are committed to bringing on the best talent that represents the diversity of our members to the larger organization. Our hiring managers continue working closely with their recruiters to maintain inclusive hiring practices. Additionally, our DEI&B team recently completed their 2022 OKRs and will be presenting those at an upcoming All-Hands meeting to ensure that the full organization is aware and can contribute to achieving our objectives. We will also provide quarterly updates to the company outlining diversity within teams to highlight areas we are doing well in and areas that need more work. Pay & Promotions: Our pay structure is based on industry benchmarks taking into account various factors such as geographic territory, scope of work, and market competitiveness. Because of these varying factors, engineers of varying levels and experience will have different salaries. Additionally, post-merger, we are working on a Total Rewards program that reflects the new company; its culture, and values. This program will be launched at the end of Q1. While the merger did delay the launch, having a one-company Total Rewards philosophy and program is critical. Project Management: The Cloud Team remediation responsibilities were indeed heavy. Throughout the process, the changes in personnel were considerable in addition to having a complex professional services relationship that both helped and hindered the project. The project deadline was not arbitrarily chosen: we had a contractual obligation that had to be met and worked backward from that timeline. To help mitigate employee burnout we bolstered the team with professional services, provided additional MINDays, and rewarded the team at the end of the year. The team and management have garnered learnings from this experience, including how we approach regulatory deadlines in the future. M&A: It’s very common - and often a legal requirement - that most of the details (like integration) are not worked out until a merger closes. Once the merger between Ginger and Headspace closed in September, the executive teams and senior leadership got to work putting plans in place for integration of staff, software offerings, operations, etc. In September, we presented our integrated approach to the organization and began updating the organization on a bi-weekly basis in December. Unfortunately, mergers are usually messy, and we know there have been pain points for our employees over the last few months. We are continuing to work through this and are confident that Headspace Health is positioned to execute on its 2022 goals with the incredible talent we have across the organization. Mission: In January, the team presented Headspace Health’s vision to values and cultural tenets. Our mission is to transform mental healthcare to improve the health and happiness of the world, which we believe we are in an excellent position to fulfill. We continue to offer Headspace at no cost to many people, including educators, teenagers, and healthcare providers. We also have Radio Headspace, which is free content available to people on many different platforms, Headspace’s YouTube channel, and free meditations through our IGTV. We will continue supporting our followers with meditation and mindfulness content. In the midst of our global mental health crisis, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this has never been more important.