Smartly Reviews

2.7

41% would recommend to a friend

(354 total reviews)

Laura Desmond

46% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Smartly has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 354 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Smartly employee rating is 30% below average for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

354 reviews
2.0
4 Jul 2023

Uncertain future

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people. As other reviews have menetioned, the people are great and the hiring processes has really brought in talent from around the world who are smart, can get along and make the day bearable.

Cons

Culture is gone. Everyone is underpaid. Quarterly layoffs/resignations. Customers are churning. Quarterly sales goals are being missed in every market. The new CEO & the executive leadership that has come in over the past year have pivoted the companies strategy so often that no one is setup for success. There is no clear line of communication between the employees and c-suite. Our team managers & regional directors can only do so much, but are unable to fight for what needs to be addressed. It will be an uphill battle regardless of your role. The above is a real shame considering the actual tech & the people are great.

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Smartly Response
2y
Hi. Thank you for leaving a review of your experience working with us. We’re glad to hear you approved of our hiring process and enjoyed collaborating with other Smartlies throughout your time here. We appreciate your feedback and we believe every scaling organization goes through an evolution process. It’s true for our company as well. While in earlier years our product and business focused on Facebook-only social advertising, today, we’ve expanded to not only creating advertising solutions but also transforming advertising experiences overall. Just like the ever-changing digital marketing and advertising industry, we have been evolving. As part of this growth journey, we have faced some challenges along the way but we always strive to stay grounded. Every business decision we make supports our vision of changing digital advertising technology to accelerate creativity, commerce & brand performance. Thanks again for your review, and we encourage you to reach out to your manager or your local HR Business Partner if you wish to discuss anything further.
1.0
11 Jul 2025

Going downhill

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Great colleagues to work with -Pretty cool product -Benefits are competitive/strong

Cons

- Out of touch, performative leadership. - Toxic culture of fear around certain executives and executives have been known to be petty - Limited work/life balance. Micromanagement of in office presence through tracking system. Burnout happening. - Very slow growth, customers leaving, too much spending on stupid stuff to allow for strong profit margins. - Challenging and complicated product to sell - Increasingly high turnover - Disorganized environment - Many people don’t like working here whether they share it with their managers or in “anonymous” pulse surveys or not.

1.0
6 Nov 2024

Run from this cult

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Many good people still work here.

Cons

This company’s environment is beginning to feel more like a cult than a workplace. The culture is highly toxic, with management frequently yelling at employees in meetings. Voicing any concerns leads to being singled out and targeted. Slogans like “get sh**t done” are constantly repeated, as if they’re trying to create a mantra. Most of the leadership that has been here for more years was recently let go. The goals set are unrealistic, and even when they’re met, there are often excuses not to pay the promised bonuses. HR overlooks many serious issues, including cases of racism, sexism, and bullying from management. Employees are routinely expected to work overtime, take on responsibilities beyond their roles and pay grades, fostering an atmosphere of competition and backstabbing among colleagues. Raises happen very rarely and are not matching the inflation rates. Policies on returning to the office and other benefits are applied unevenly. Workloads have tripled over the past year, adding to the strain. Notice the overly positive reviews—many come from new hires, and the rest sound suspiciously generic, almost as if generated by AI.

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Smartly Response
1y
We appreciate you taking the time to give feedback. It was very concerning to read this review as the points raised are in direct conflict with company best practice and our culture as a whole. We notice that you are an existing employee and so we’d love the opportunity to address your concerns as we continue our journey together. The expectations you’ve listed are not representative of business and leadership expectations. Please do reach out to your manager, People & Culture Leadership, HR, or anyone in the Leadership team. We are all here to help and take this seriously.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 354 Reviews

Glassdoor has 380 Smartly reviews submitted anonymously by Smartly employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Smartly is right for you.