Headout Reviews

4.2

87% would recommend to a friend

(261 total reviews)

Varun Khona

94% approve of CEO

86% positive business outlook

Headout has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 261 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Headout employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

261 reviews
1.0
29 May 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The Bangalore office is pretty big, although, with the amount of firing going on, expect a lot of empty space. In no time, one "quad" can double as a football ground. So if you need to work on your game, this is the place to be. What else? Oh, the lavatories are pretty good. Ping-pong and Foosball tables available. My ping-pong game significantly improved during my stay here. I give them that. There is an area for smoking, because, trust me, you need it if you work at Headout. That being said, there are a few people who are genuinely good at what they do, and expect to make a difference.

Cons

Where does one even start? a) They might call you an "analyst", but in reality, you will be booking tickets for the unassuming customers who somehow end up using their app, or updating seat vacancy in theaters. Yeah, that's it. They've sugar-coated the job descriptions just enough to give one diabetes. And the interviews are overlong sessions of bush-beating. I'm fairly certain they identify travel agents as analysts. They're very kind, in that aspect. b) Sometimes I felt like the people at HR wonder what they were hired for. Your skills and personal growth do not matter here. Your resume hits a virtual shelf once you get in, gathering dust. Employee retention is not even a priority here. They fire at their convenience and will, like there's a war going on. There are no visible policies. You won't even get your pay on time! c) About the company. It's ironic watching them pay close attention to the fraudulent activity on their platform, when the actual fraudulence comes from within. Their practices are questionable, unethical, disorganized and misleading. They've got no vision. They are ticket resellers at best, and advertise themselves as front and foremost. I spent months wondering, "When are we all going to get arrested for this?" The managers once spent two days working on a new process to improve their operations. And guaranteed implementation in a matter of two weeks. This was 5 months ago and there isn't even a pilot ready. The "projects" here are for show. d) The rampant internal politics makes it a good setting for a Hindi serial. Grab a camera, shoot and pitch it to Colors TV. You will earn more money than you will ever earn here. If you're thinking of applying to this place, unless you're a footballer or ping-pong player or serial-maker, you'll be wasting your time.

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Headout Response
8y
Thanks for your time and choosing to make Headout a part of your journey. It looks like things didn't go down well and that sucks. I am especially distressed at the fact that might have office politics hindering our progress here. I have always hated this and I can only imagine how you'd feel being subject to it. Can you help me fix this and share the specifics? Our JDs clearly need some work for the Demand Ops role. I'll get cracking on that this week. I look forward to sharing how we're implementing changes and hearing your inputs. Varun.
1.0
28 May 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great product, Smart peers, Good perks

Cons

Heartless founders, Too many pseudo-managers, Lack of people management training in part of founders and HR, Unequal importance of teams

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Headout Response
8y
Thanks for sharing this. I can only try to understand how it must've felt for you. We have in the last few months always decided to leave it to the individual concerned to share their departure with their colleagues in whatever way they seem fit. This flexibility for the person leaving to decide the narrative we believe is a more humane way to handle a delicate situation. Of course, there is no right or wrong here. Thanks for your confidence in the product and what we do and thank you for all the amazing things you would have done while you're here. We are truly grateful and I wish you all the very best with what's next. Varun.
2.0
29 May 2017

Don't

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lavish office, air conditioning and pantry.

Cons

1. I worked with their demand operations team and on behalf of most people working in this team would like to discourage any potential applicants from applying to this post. Although their website says that the employee will be working on making the fulfilment process better and more efficient, that is not the case unless you take initiative. They call us analysts but we are nothing less than factory workers. All you'll analyse is why they made a fool of you. 1-2 days into your job, one realises what they are really hired to do. You will be booking tickets for their customers, literally. There is no intimation about this to the candidate throughout the interview process, none whatsoever. They will keep beating about the bush, including the HR, and lure you with their perks. Those who were lured regretted it. Imagine sitting in front of a desk for 10 hours and copy pasting information to book tickets for Sam, Rita and Geeta. 2. DO people are the lowest paid because their job is as easy as a delivery agent's. Most people are overqualified, MBA graduates and engineers sit there booking tickets and calling customers. they don't have a life since they have to work odd hours and don't have the usual weekends. On top of that, they fired a bunch of their operations team starting January since some tech dude started automating their processes. In other words, look for some other role or just stay away from this company.

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Headout Response
8y
Thanks for sharing this. I hear you. I've seen a clear pattern where folks who have done well with us (even in your team) are the ones who have taken initiative without a lot of involvement from our side. We'll have to find a way to get all of the team to display the same level of enthusiasm for fixing things like some of your colleagues had and make this work at scale. No great answers yet, still a work in progress. I am sad to hear the JD and the expectation built around the interview process wasn't clear. For this specific role, shifts and work on one of the weekend days is a reality. I wish I could do this differently but we need to support our customers across 3 continents 24/7. There is no choice because they deserve our best. So do you. I'll have a word with the concerned team members to ensure we're more transparent. If you've specific inputs on the JD, please write to me or your manager. I promise to put the changes in effect within a day. Varun.
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