Formlabs reviews about "pay"

Formlabs needs to stop labeling increased responsibilities as 'promotions' when they come without any corresponding pay raise. After layoffs or when employees leave due to burnout, the additional workload is quietly passed on to remaining team members—yet it's rarely acknowledged as extra work. If you speak up enough, you might receive an unofficial title change, but still no increase in compensation. And they feel more entitled to give you more work so you are really just shooting yourself in the foot by accepting a "promotion". It feels like a way to mask understaffing without properly rewarding the loyal people who stay.

Pay was not that competitive.

Nepotism: The CEO and CPO tend to give important positions to people they have personal relationships with. Even if some of these individuals look qualified on paper, it’s hard to see the real value they bring. Some are long-time friends, even holiday companions, and this favoritism is widely recognized across the company. Constant Uncertainty: The leadership often gives the impression of always scheming behind closed doors, which creates an atmosphere of mistrust. Priorities shift suddenly, communication is limited, and employees are left feeling that the ground could move beneath them at any time. This ongoing uncertainty makes it difficult to focus on long-term goals or feel secure in day-to-day work. Toxic Leadership: The C-Suite surrounds itself with people who rarely challenge decisions. This creates an echo chamber where open discussion and healthy debate are limited. Lack of Accountability: Leadership often doesn’t hold themselves to the same standards of rigour they expect from employees. Teams spend countless hours preparing detailed analyses, only to see decisions made on gut feelings or hunches. Data is frequently overlooked or adjusted to support whatever narrative leadership wants to present. This makes the meticulous work feel wasted and demotivating. Lack of Diversity in Management: Non-engineering management roles lack variety, with most filled by MBAs, usually former consultants or ex-Wayfair employees. This has led to noticeable pay gaps, with some managers earning two to three times the salary and up to ten times the equity of middle management or regular employees. Internal talent is often overlooked in favor of outside hires, which discourages career growth from within.

- Hard to ramp up, as it takes someone who can fact find about the product roadmap and where best to add value - Managers grew from within, and don’t have the best reputation for coaching/guiding engineering team members through component and system design - it’s more of a free for all, and it’s hard for new team members to catch up on institutional / tenured knowledge - Key decision-makers are quick to judge the worth of individual employees, via an all-or-nothing mindset - “you’re either a brilliant engineer, or you’re holding back the team”

Over the past 2–3 years, the company has shifted from inclusive and human to rigid, top-down and fear-driven. HR and the new Customer Team leadership fundamentally changed the culture, prioritizing control, ranking and compliance over trust and collaboration. Stack ranking is treated as a core management tool (or a religion): employees, teams and even customers are evaluated against each other instead of real market impact or customer value. Excellent professionals are downgraded or pushed out due to temporary KPI drops (illness, vacation, resource shortages), regardless of long-term results. Employees are expected to display constant optimism, even in the face of layoffs, burnout, and chaotic restructuring. Expressing doubts or raising concerns is quietly penalized, creating an environment where emotional conformity outweighs realism and professionalism. Literally ALL senior EMEA leaders across Sales(3!), Service, HR and Finance(2!) have left or been terminated within a single year — an extremely alarming signal. Promotions disproportionately favor ex-colleagues and networks typically from Bain&Co and Wayfair, sometimes even involving spouses of existing leaders. The company repeatedly eliminates people or entire teams before ensuring any realistic backfill or operational continuity, leaving remaining employees to absorb impossible workloads. Project/Products/Prices can change extremely frequently, products may appear or disappear without clear market rationale. Compensation is no longer competitive; when adjusted for inflation, real pay has decreased. While some adjustments were eventually made, they only came after a noticeable employee exodus had already begun, and even then, they failed to fully close the gap. Leadership tone is deeply concerning: the CEO shows little empathy, the CPO’s mood sets the atmosphere, and the CRO publicly stated in a live meeting in front of at least 40 colleagues: “You can ask questions for two days, but at the end, you must obey.” That one sentence encapsulates the current culture better than any review could.

Not many paths to grow within the company Pay is average Not always onboard with the path forward taken by the company

Feedback not always heard Pay is low for tech industry

Low pay No career growth

Lower Pay than market rates. Stressful work environment