Onfido Reviews

Pros

I figured I just hit my 2 year anniversary here and I could share some thoughts that might help you as a prospective colleague of ours make a very important career decision. Reviews in general are often biased by the extremes, I hope this gives you some objective information to evaluate. 1) Our market is large and growing, which is great for Onfido and our challengers in the market. When reviewing a company for... potential employment, it all starts here. What is even better is the market is just starting to peak, a great time for joining. 2) Our product and technology were built for the long-term. We did not hurry or take short cuts, but we did have some gaps along the way as we built out a multi-component platform. This is not unlike any other industry that started from scratch. 3) We are absolutely non-compromising on hiring high quality people. Yes, this can create an open position for while, and in some cases we find out that a set of hires might not have been correct. But unlike a lot of companies, these adjustments are made promptly. These are never great experiences for the company or individuals involved. But, not acting is worse for both parties. 4) There is a lot of investment into the culture of the company, moreso relative to other companies I have seen. If you like the culture and it works for you, you will be satisfied with this aspect. No idea if off the table. 5) Our company goals are to win. It is that simple. That is going to bring huge expectations for effort, pace, creativity and quality. Want an easy job? We are not the right place. Want to work with people going big or going home? Take a deeper look. Enjoy pushing yourself and learning each day? Again, that is who we are.

Cons

I look at this section as more "risks" and risks usually have mitigation factors as this size of company, so most things are fixable if not perfect today. However, there are some characteristics that might not be right for you that I will share, so you are not surprised in any way through our recruitment process or onboarding. 1) We are a very young company and as such we are going to make some unique mistakes.... But, we are also going to do some things that are unique, bold and unaffected by past precedent bias. An old dog can learn new tricks here, but also directly impact experiential wisdom, which is directly sought out by this Learning culture. There are countless examples of world-class companies started by young founders with experienced executive teams. We of course aim to be the next great company and are not thinking about second place. However, this is a specific type of company unlike a more typical seasoned-CEO-led tech company. Hang on for the ride! 2) We were still dialing in our leadership team while we also had to build an execution team, which admittedly was not 100% perfect in execution. Hindsight is always 100% accurate and can be a cruel judge. But having key leaders in place is absolutely critical to building a great company and the good news 2019 saw the completion of the executive team some key VPs. We also have been continuously hiring fantastic talent into the organization at all levels. We all take hiring as a priority. 3) A global remit in this kind of product/company domain is huge and requires extreme prioritization. Getting good at that as a company requires deliberate practice and continual challenging. We get better at that each quarter, each year but rate ourselves hard on that and will always have room too improve, especially in a frothy market. 4) A global company needs extremely effective communicators internally and externally. This becomes a necessary part of your job, regardless of level. If you don't understand, embrace and execute this, it might not be the right place for you. You need to have thick skin, and constantly take feedback to calibrate your approach. But when you do, you will find that this extremely smart and hard working company will scale your thinking and efforts right along side. 5) Attacking the world from London is a unique angle. We are not your typical Silicon Valley company but we embody a lot of aspects of those companies in our executive leadership and operational pattens and how we look at building product that is massively useful to our customers. We hope to get the best of both worlds but this is a complex formula and one we will need to iterate further to get right. Want to be part of a truly global company?

Pros

Product and services are good.

Cons

There are massive problems in Marketing and Sales. They have been through endless leadership and there is no end in site. The company is structured into two main regions, US and UK. This is where the problem begins. Despite promoting a strong company culture, these two sides cannot get along. Instead of working together, there's a power struggle. Management in the US seems to change every minute. Have the right... person in and it's a great place. Get someone bad and your life just turned upside down. But here's the problem, HoD's are completely disconnected with what is happening in the market and with staff. They encourage you to speak up, but if it's something they don't want to hear, you'll get fired or will be forced out. The problem rises when new senior decision makers fire or force good employees out, only to be let go or quit within three to twelve months. It's terrible and goes against the culture they preach. It's failure in employee retention at its best. On average this company loses 3-5 good employees for every bad Management hire. As for UK, it's a mixed bag. Some great teams exist while others continue to have internal struggles. The bad teams are led by leaders which favour employees. These ill equip, non-inspirational leaders are simply 'yes' people. When leaders hire outside vendors to teach their craft, it should be a red flag. Teams act happy, but it's a facade. If you don't play along and you'll be blacklisted. Come anywhere close to exposing weakness in leadership and consider yourself gone. This has created complete distrust. Employees will tell you "Be careful on who you trust and what you say. People watch you". Believe them. Chats, emails, surveys, private consulting, communication tools, all monitored in some way. It's easy to find out who may have said something what when they get reports. You signed up, they mine the general feedback, you become a target. It's a virus and methodology that reaches all the way to HR. Really sad for all the money spent on culture. There are offices overseas, but these roles are given to people who are not qualified, do not know the region or do not possess the experience. They survive because the market is so unfamiliar. Overall expectations on revenue are unrealistic and can only be equated to overpromising to investors. This has created numerous pressure cookers that have exploded time and time again. It's unrealistic, just like their ever changing compensation plan which is based on Finance reporting instead of deal closing. Stock options are non-existent unless you consider anything below 1000 shares profit sharing.

Advice to Management

We all know you have an inner circle that you trust. You've lost and let go of great people for no reason. The individuals that seem to be immune to retrenchment, are simply threatened by those who can out think them. How does an employee compete with people who we report to? Did you know that some leaders tell us what to say and how to act? They make us comment positively on HR census reports. They ask us to reach... out to C level and HR to tell them how great our team events were because, "I spent a lot of money on this". We know you seek truth, but it's not being given. If you continue to be bias to certain individuals, you'll never build the amazing team and culture you seek. The carnage must stop. Bad 'protected' people must go or teach them what FLAT MANAGEMENT really means. When you hire leaders, find strategic people that can lead by example and are not afraid of hiring people smarter than them. Leaders should be inspirational and consist of diversity. Real leaders come up with last minute strategies that will help you hit goals. It's a joint effort between Marketing and Sales. If your leaders don't have a plan and only try to make reps push up close dates on pipelines, you don't have the right person in that role. Your prospects budgets and priorities can always change. Real leaders have contingency plans. They don't finger point to save themselves. So how do you get better at running your company? Learn to read between the lines. Know the difference between a fake smiles and forced participation. The devil is in the details. Make time for your people. HR needs to come up with a recovery plan and stop favoring those in management. It's hard to be a proud Onfidoer when you've been mistreating so many people. I'm fairly new here, but focus on what really happening. So many walls are up and all your team building efforts are meaningless. Uninspired and feel like I'm in a dead career.

Pros

Met some very hard working individuals (getting frustrated though) Technology is pretty decent Engineer centric organization (good or bad)

Cons

CRO is completely clueless about the industry and does not reach out to the team CRO has an arrogance giving him the least like leader in the company There is no industry strategy They are scaling the company without a track record of any success in the US CEO and the COO get involved in business they have no clue about The lack of structure or any real leadership makes it difficult to have a career... there Everyone I knew is looking or going to resign in the next few weeks IT'S THAT BAD!

Advice to Management

Just read all the reviews in Glassdoor, that should pretty much tell you the company is in dire straits. You have got yourself in a hole that will take you 18 to 24 months to get out of. Your employment brand coulkd not be any worse!

Pros

Agile product and some really good people wanting to make a difference.

Cons

Can NOT ever be trusted! Their committed and loyal employees are mistreated at a level that is incomprehensible. For the sake of time I will only reference challenges with compensation, but somany others exist. Throughout my career I have always been a top performer, always exceeding my goals. My year at Onfido has been my worst earning year ever. The COMPENSATION is WELL BELOW MARKET and goals are very unrealistic.... I will take responsibility for accepting an offer with only a base and no variable in writing, but they insisted that commissions are not something they provide in their offer letters. That should have been my first red flag. They went on to say I will make a lot of money. Several months ago the CRO said that he will "fall on the sword for not having compensation plans out." He never falls short reminding us how long he has been in the industry, but does fall short meeting his commitment to provide a comp plan nor a simple update. Everything is done verbally or when they don't have answers, they push you off to HR. For me, its been more than 7 months that they have not provided a formal compensation plan (CA law states you have to provide a written comp plan to be signed by both parties in a timely manner). Going on over 7 months, you can be the judge. Also, they assign quotas quarterly and ironically they have aligned to what my pipeline is for that particular quarter. They do not want to reward sales people for bringing in large deals and over achieving. If your time is valuable and you want to make money, it's my recommendation to move on and look for an organization that legitimately values their people and want to see them succeed. I hate sending out negativity but its gone on too long and thank god for Glass Door, we can hold companies accountable for what they do!

Advice to Management

"There currently is a mass exodus of good people leaving. You say you pride yourself on culture but fall well short of living up to it. Treat people better, Silicon Valley is a really small place."

Pros

Some interesting colleagues at company.

Cons

Company has some serious HR issues and needs improvement in its company when it comes to manager behavior, bullying and sexist behavior and language. Complaints are not handled confidently nor are taken seriously. I would hope things would have improved given the current #metoo climate, but this was not the case at all during my time at the company. Pay is also far below the market and I would not recommend... this company to women looking to work in tech.

Advice to Management

Remove problematic management and bring in more tenured C-suite.

Pros

none for a company that its current stage

Cons

1. Non inclusive leadership that is not open to diversity in people or points of view. 2. Technology does not deliver on what is being sold or marketed 3. Bad working conditions and lack of concern for resources outside of HQ 4. Inconsistent HR policies, not CA compliant with respect to the rights of employees, and wages and equity are not fair or consistent.

Pros

Onfido has all the makings of becoming one of today's great dot com success stories. It's backed by industry leaders and led by 3 passionate founders who have the vision to take this well into the future. The service creates trust on the internet via Digital ID Verification. If you don't understand the importance/implications of that, don't apply. More importantly, it's the people and company culture which makes... this one of the best companies I have been a part of. Onfido knows what they're looking for & have put together an eclectic mix of diverse driven people who are here to win. Truly happy to be a part of this team/company. Shout out to HR (exactly, who says that!)

Cons

Needs to offer more stock options.

Advice to Management

Put some golden handcuffs on us.

Pros

Helpful peers, supportive, good pkg

Cons

No negative feedback, flexible, WFH options

Advice to Management

None