Artsy Reviews

3.7

64% would recommend to a friend

(198 total reviews)
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Jeffrey Yin

72% approve of CEO

52% positive business outlook

Artsy has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 198 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Artsy employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

198 reviews
1.0
26 Jan 2024

Unpleasant Experience at Artsy

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Coworkers are are very very nice

Cons

I had joined Artsy with high hopes and aspirations, eager to contribute to the art world and grow in my career. Unfortunately, my experience was far from positive, especially as a non-white individual. Artsy claimed to value diversity, but in reality, leadership seemed to use these values to maintain a predominantly white male hierarchy. Despite the emphasis on diversity, there were very few women and people of color in influential positions. Those who were in leadership roles often found themselves marginalized, serving more as figureheads than actual contributors to the business. Microaggressions and concerns about workplace behavior were consistently ignored by the people team, creating an environment where bullying and micromanagement were tolerated. Complaints about my manager as a bully micromanager were brushed aside, and retaliation was a daily occurrence. The double standard in measuring managers against different values only exacerbated the toxic culture. The business model was questionable, with outdated backend technology. Artsy's disregard for its partners and employees was evident, and the gap between the company's onboarding promises, especially in sales, and the reality was striking. If you were seeking a supportive environment to grow your career and make a positive impact on the art world, Artsy might not have been the right choice. Working there left me disillusioned about the tech and art world. The lack of support from management and the prevalence of gaslighting and dishonesty took a toll on my professional well-being. My advice to prospective employees would be to consider other opportunities unless you're comfortable learning the art of professional deception. It was disheartening that a company with the potential to contribute positively to the industry fell so short of its promises.

2.0
16 Oct 2019

The company is on shaky ground

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Artsy has a passionate, hard-working team and a mission that everyone rallies around. The work culture was amazing when I first began. The HQ is stunning. The CEO was inspiring. It seemed like the perfect gem of a company. It proved too good to be true.

Cons

Many of the leaders and long-time employees have left in the past year. They saw the writing on the wall. The new CEO is extremely corporate and laser-focused on the marketplace, at the expense of other teams and the culture that was so prized. I hope it works out, but it's not the same company that it was even a year ago, and unrecognizable to those who've worked there longer. If you are looking for stability, now is probably not a good time to join. Recent layoffs and restructuring portend future layoffs. Look to WeWork for the some of the same issues.

2.0
21 May 2018

A shadow of its former self

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Compared to other companies in the art world, Artsy is hands down the best. Many talented and kind people work here, there's "unlimited" PTO, free snacks, and the views are brag-worthy. On paper Artsy is innovative (there's more of a priority on tech than anywhere else in the art world) and the mission is inspiring. The art world has moved online, and Artsy has led that change. There has been a concerted effort to hire people with real experience over the past two years, which is great. On top of that, the Office Experience team is earnestly trying to make the office space better.

Cons

Hoping to work at a fast-paced startup? Artsy is fast in all the wrong ways. Inexperienced leadership diverts resources inefficiently and fails to recognize talent unless it's under the umbrella of a pet project. The politics of this cult takes years off your life, preys on the idealistic with low pay, and still is trying to figure out how to grow into a profitable business. Expect a limited lifespan at Artsy, especially if you're looking for career growth or have no patience for petulant nonsense. Not only is communication completely siloed between teams, but advancement upwards remains a bit of a mystery. Managers are bosses on paper. They hold little sway when it comes to promotion or opportunities for career development. Compensation is opaque, yet somehow non-negotiable, putting managers in a difficult position with their reports. Our CEO once referred to "work life balance" as "work life integration," which means I don't even need to tell you that most employees don't take time off.

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Artsy Response
8y
Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts - we appreciate feedback in any channel we receive it. I'm personally very sorry to hear you're finding your time at Artsy so challenging for all the ways you describe. Our goal is to encourage openness and transparency in all we do, and to offer our team members (and managers) the flexibility, ownership, and context to make best decisions in their roles and for their teams. It sounds like your experience is not reflect with this at all. I'd be happy to address some or all of the issues you raise in person - confidentially and anonymously - if you would like to reach out (of course, feel free to do so without referencing this review in any way). For example, I'd love to walk you through how we benchmark competitive compensation for roles at Artsy, to hear your more specific frustrations for how our teams could communicate better, and to better understand what obstacles we can tackle that keep you from using our open time-off policy. I sincerely hope to hear from you so that we can directly address your concerns. As a fast-growing and evolving start-up, I'm sure there are areas we can improve - so even if we don't get to address these issues together, I'll certainly be on the look out for them across the organization. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts.
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Glassdoor has 212 Artsy reviews submitted anonymously by Artsy employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Artsy is right for you.