Good ambition, poor execution - Anonymous employee Diligent Employee Review

2.0
May 8, 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Diligent has some very talented people, and is in a strong market position. Employees are generally well compensated and the company seems to genuinely want to be an ethical employer.

Cons

Unfortunately, the company is poorly run from the top down. Planning is almost always after the fact. They closed the Christchurch office (primary dev centre for the only product that actually turns a profit) and then asked the people being made redundant to figure out how to implement this change. The product is grossly under-resourced, leading to constant firefighting.

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Diligent Response
4y
Thank you for sharing your perspective with us. We certainly agree that our people are a huge part of what make Diligent an employer of choice, and we strive to ensure all our team members feel valued and competitively rewarded for their efforts. To your specific feedback, our decision to close our Christchurch office in New Zealand was made only after extensive analysis of how best to enhance collaboration across our team and drive greater impact for our clients. In fact, the feedback we were hearing was that it was difficult for employees to collaborate in real-time and move with agility due to vast time zone differences. We don’t underestimate how difficult these changes were for any team member who was impacted and took every available step we had to support them. More broadly, this year we have made it a focus to cascade goals throughout our entire organization to promote greater strategic clarity and alignment. If you have more specific ideas or suggestions on how we can improve and better support you, please speak with your manager or ELT member so we can be responsive to your concerns. You can also email us anonymously at HRconfidential@diligent.com. Thank you again. -Avigail Dadone, Chief People Officer

Explore other reviews about Diligent

2.0
Mar 11, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The product is market-leading, and the space is genuinely interesting. There's no shortage of smart, capable people at Diligent. A lot of talented managers exist within the org who could do more if given the room.

Cons

Direction changes constantly — sometimes it feels quarter over quarter. The result is widespread burnout and an inability to execute. Senior leaders rarely push back on the CEO, which means teams absorb every strategic shift without warning or context. HR leadership prioritizes serving the executive team over the broader employee population. The HR team is stretched thin and operates more like a compliance function than a culture or development partner. (Turnover within HR leadership has been notable.) Pay is below market. The equity program is opaque, poorly managed, and functions more as a retention mechanism than a genuine benefit (with no clear path to liquidity). There's a meaningful gap between what the company says it stands for—especially around employee experience—and what it actually delivers internally.

11
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Diligent Response
2mo
Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful feedback about your experience. We truly appreciate you recognizing the strengths of our product and the talent across our team, and we’re glad to hear the space feels interesting and compelling. We also recognize that as a company focused on governance, risk and compliance, that it’s critical to hold ourselves to the same high standards internally. Through our monthly pulse surveys, we listen to our team, learn and actively work to strengthen any areas of feedback from alignment to transparency, or accountability across our leadership teams. In fact, one of our OKRs is focused solely on ensuring we have an empowered and accountable team, which we rally around as an organization. We appreciate other sources of feedback like yours, as it is an important part of that effort. Our People team is committed to supporting an elevated employee experience and continuously improving how we listen, respond, and evolve. While we won’t always get everything right on the first try, we are highly focused on continuing to iterate and making meaningful progress to ensure our actions reflect our values. We encourage continued feedback and appreciate you sharing your perspective. If you’d like to provide any additional context, please feel free to reach out at: HRConfidential@diligent.com
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