The Marie Antionette Moment - Engineering PayPal Employee Review

2.0
12 Sept 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I realized the extent of my burnout when there was an email hyping third quarter, lots to launch, we’re in a marathon but start sprinting. 4 weeks later, another email came about management's refreshing 2-week vacations, the realization of how important it was to recharge and how good it was to step away for time with their families, yet it's still 3rd quarter, so keep sprinting. For the majority who can’t take time off due to an overload of varying production deadlines and escalations and who start their workday earlier and end them later just to keep up, this came across as exceptionally tone deaf. Making it worse was an all hands discussing how to ensure a better work life balance—here, read some slide decks. What finally convinced me to write this review was when a dev colleague told me after he’d been diagnosed with a serious illness, his manager asked if he could take on an additional product launch to the ones he's currently handling. In short, it’s your own damn fault if you can’t manage self-care, regardless of the work load. Pros: • Good health benefits • 401k match • ESPP program • RSUs • Commuting reimbursements • Roth 401k • Track free vacation - no need to put in a request for time off weeks in advance

Cons

Cons: • 2020 Covid moonshot attitude focus, aka “all hands on deck/sprint to you drop, people!”, is now the workstyle norm • Reports overload. Multiple, often duplicate reports must be done each week. Even if there was no movement, something must get added (punctuation change, word deletion) otherwise it’s a mark against you. • Rampant Yes Man culture in meetings where people race to add their “wow, fantastic insight!” comments in the meeting chat just to get noticed for promotion • Quarterly team re-orgs that are just constant churn / chaos • Layoffs in January/early Feb (avoids bonus payout) • Promotions are difficult to achieve. The process is pretty much where the manager who shouts the loudest in the ranking meeting, gets the promotions • Fewer RSU awards • Track free vacation almost impossible to use due to the workload. Most people end up only taking 2 weeks at the end of the year

Explore other reviews about PayPal

5.0
7 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work life balance. Lot of opportunities to learn

Cons

Company is in transition mode

2.0
13 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

PayPal has a lot of potential. It has two very strong brands in PayPal and Venmo with significant awareness and user bases that other companies envy. There are pockets of teams that are really pushing the envelop to reimagine what PayPal and Venmo could be—especially the Venmo team—and to move with speed given the company must stay focused and not waste time with Apple Pay, Shop Pay, and so many other competitors nipping at PayPal's heels and aggressively taking market share.

Cons

While some teams are pushing to self-disrupt and are moving fast, too many teams—and I'd argue the majority of the company–are living off of PayPal's laurels from the late 2010s through the pandemic. The culture and mindset have to change for the company to remain competitive. Otherwise, they are the Titanic and they're sinking slowly. The former CEO who only last 2 years tried diversifying the company's revenue, planning for the future. But the board and its former chairman (now new CEO) felt he wasn't moving fast enough to stabilize and marketshare. Instead, the board hired the former chairman who made computers and printers at HP—another sinking ship—to lead the oldest fintech company. The loss of confidence in the leadership team and the strategy are only accelerating.

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