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      Pleo

      Engaged employer

      Pleo reviews

      Strong flexibility and caring colleagues, but declining values - Anonymous employee Pleo Employee Review

      3.0
      18 Jun 2026
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      A high level of flexibility in how employees manage their day-to-day work, schedules, and responsibilities. This is becoming increasingly rare within the industry and is something I have genuinely valued during my time here. Colleagues who genuinely care about one another and take pride in the work they do. There is a strong sense of collaboration and a willingness to support each other in achieving shared goals.

      Cons

      I fully appreciate that businesses need to evolve, adapt to market conditions, and position themselves for future growth. However, it feels as though some of the values that originally made Pleo a great place to work have been weakened in the process, particularly around how people are treated and listened to by senior leadership. In some departments, the reality on the ground feels very different from the one team, one direction message. Teams are being asked to absorb significantly more work, respond to increasing numbers of last-minute requests and operate with limited capacity, all while maintaining the same expectations for performance. While the company suggests that success is largely within employees' control, that has not always reflected my experience. When priorities change frequently, resources remain constrained, and decisions are made several layers above the teams responsible for delivery, outcomes can feel heavily influenced by factors outside an individual's control. Equally concerning is the perception that raising honest, constructive feedback can sometimes be viewed negatively rather than welcomed as part of healthy discussion. This is particularly disappointing because the people affected are often highly committed employees who genuinely care about Pleo and its success. Over time, this combination of increased pressure, limited influence over key decisions, and reduced mental safety appears to be taking a toll on morale and wellbeing. I also understand the strategic ambition to move upmarket and focus on larger customers. However, there seems to be a disconnect between that ambition and the current maturity of the product. Customers are becoming increasingly frustrated by the pace of product development, while some new customers appear to be sold a vision that the product cannot yet fully deliver. This creates challenges not only for customers but also for the teams responsible for supporting them, who are often left managing expectations that were difficult to meet from the outset.

      avatar
      Pleo Response
      5d
      Thank you for this - it's clearly written by someone who genuinely cares about Pleo, and that comes through in every line. The autonomy and the quality of the people around you are things we work hard to protect, so we're glad those have been real for you. The people piece especially - colleagues who want each other to win and take pride in their work - that's core to who we are, and something we're not willing to lose as we evolve. Some of what you've described reflects the honest reality of a business in transformation, as you’ve acknowledged. We can see a significant opportunity in front of us and we're going after it - that means higher expectations and harder calls, and that does ask more of people. What we're committed to is making sure that ambition is matched by genuine support, clarity on priorities, and an environment where honest feedback is welcomed, not penalised. Where that balance hasn't felt right, we want to know about it - not because it's uncomfortable to hear, but because the people raising it are usually the ones who care most. We're also working hard in the background on what the employee experience at Pleo looks like for the future - one that enables people to do work they're genuinely proud of at pace, while looking after the human alongside it. It won't look like the employee experience of the past, because we're a different business now, but we're committed to getting it right. We'll be able to bring more clarity on that over the coming months. On the product and the move upmarket - there's always more to build, and getting the balance right between ambition and what we can deliver today is something we take seriously. Our focus is on building something customers genuinely love, and that means being honest about where we are as much as where we're going. If you're finding it hard to raise things through normal channels, please do speak to your People partner directly. People who are this invested in Pleo's success are exactly who we want to hear from.

      Explore other reviews about Pleo

      4.0
      4 Oct 2023
      Software engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Pleo practically has an excellent team culture and is a good place to add your skills and your skills.

      Cons

      Most times, team bonding might not favor everyone in some regional part of the world.

      avatar
      Pleo Response
      2y
      Thanks for leaving a review! In our more distributed teams, we know it can be more challenging to bring everyone together, but we will continue to explore ways we can get better at this.
      2.0
      21 Apr 2020
      Sales
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Quarterly team camps and nice social activities.

      Cons

      Where do I begin? As others have mentioned in their reviews, you’re sold an absolute dream with Pleo - that’s the best way to put it. They really sell you on autonomy and transparency and how they adhere to the ‘company values’ day in day out, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. There is no transparency, and nothing is communicated with you. It feels so ‘cliquey’, and you quite quickly know if you’re not one of the favourites. During my time, I’ve never felt so under valued and treated so horribly, despite being one of the hardest workers on paper, but apparently that counted for nothing. It was so demotivating, despite what you did you weren’t recognised. Somebody actually got congratulated for making 22 calls in a day during a company meeting - how embarrassing. A prime example was a colleague who hadn’t hit target for 4 months yet still got promoted. Additionally, new starters who had received extremely poor / or no training were put on performance plans in the first 3 months and got fired of their tenure for not hitting targets. All they talk about during the interview process is culture, and I saw the culture absolutely dive bomb into a toxic mess whilst the company tried to rapidly scale, particularly obvious from the VP level management. The processes and CRM were an absolute shambles, yet the management still expect you to hit your targets despite there being such inadequate framework to do so. My 1 to 1s with my manager were abysmal, clearly my manager had no idea how I was doing and wasn’t bothered. I had to effectively structure and fill the 1 to 1s as the manager never prepped for them. HR are unprofessional and in absolute dreamland. They didn’t even bother doing an exit interview with me, despite saying they would. This is a prime example of how they don’t even care and want to try and improve things. Additionally, without naming names, some of the employees, particularly longer standing ones were so so rude, no matter how much effort you made to try and get to know them. It is also hard to trust anyone at the company, considering the people who seem the ‘nicest’ were the ones to turn first and effectively ‘snitch’ on you. Ultimately, they dazzle you with the perks of going to Copenhagen to visit HQ, and these quarterly ‘team camps’, but ultimately the shambolic day to day operations and treatment of staff massively outweigh the perks mentioned above. I’m not the only current / former employee who feels like this, and I understand a lot of people have also left for similar reasons. I would avoid at all cost, there are so many lovely start up companies to work for in London, where you actually get to learn and contribute to the bigger picture.

      114
      avatar
      Pleo Response
      4y
      Hey - thanks for taking the time to write us a review and to share your experience with us. First of all, I'm so sorry that you had this experience while at Pleo. Having favorites and creating an environment where you feel like you're not valued is exactly the opposite of what we aim to do. Please let me address a few of your points: 1. Radical transparency is the way we roll at Pleo. If we see someone not living up to this, or you believe you're missing part of the puzzle, it's up to us to give these folks actionable feedback on their communication style. Employees should know (as much as is appropriate) what's going on - especially when it comes to their roles and department. 2. Pleo is growing - and quickly. We're in a very exciting stage right now - teams are growing each month. We have huge goals that we're hoping to smash. With goals like ours, there's bound to be a ton of change. While it's expected for a company like ours, we understand that change isn't always comfortable. There has been more structure added to the company but we hope that once the growing pains have subsided the end result is more than worth the temporary "chaos." 3. Our culture is crucial to who we are - the type of people who work at Pleo make it an incredible place to work. We try to prioritise this in our hiring process. Once someone is hired and welcomed onboard, it's up to all of us to welcome them to the team. This means discussing the "Pleo way" with them over coffee, inviting them to a Pleo dinner, explaining the team structure to them, explaining what's worked and what hasn't worked for you. It's up to all of us to preserve the Pleo culture. With more and more people joining each month, this can be difficult to maintain but we believe that collectively, we can preserve the Pleo culture as we scale. 4. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have the best experience with your direct manager. Sometimes, people are put into roles because we see their potential to grow into that role. They're a work in progress, but we believe that with some time, hard work, and coaching, they can crush it. I'm sorry to hear that this was not the case here and urge anyone in a similar situation to reach out to the People Ops team ASAP. Overall, we hope that your experience is not shared by many at Pleo. The People Ops team would personally love to hear from you via email or Slack to discuss how we can better your experience and how we can do a better job. Please don't hesitate to reach out directly so that we can sort this out. Thanks again for submitting your feedback and we hope to hear from you soon!
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