Sapienza Reviews

3.5

68% would recommend to a friend

(27 total reviews)
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Mark Van Oeveren

Not enough data to show CEO approval

52% positive business outlook

Sapienza has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 27 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Sapienza employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

27 reviews
1.0
28 Nov 2018

Difficult employer

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- decent administrative support - disgruntled employees find support in each other

Cons

- no doctor appointments allowed without providing proof - no one-on-one annual assessment - no reply to emails - very strict non-compete clause - non-competitive salary - no pension scheme - menacing communication style and scare tactics towards employees - Sapienza is called Trap-ienza amongs (ex-) employees and is considered one of the worst contractor companies for ESA ESTEC by contractors

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Sapienza Response
7y
We are always sad to hear that one of our employees is not happy with us, but now even more so because rather than addressing this criticism with us directly, you chose to do so on social media. For the future, you should know that we are always ready to listen to the concerns of our staff when they are not content with a situation, or when they have any worries. We have explained to you the reasons for the non-competition clause, which is justified as we operate in competition when we provide staff to our customers, and we must expend significant time and resources in our recruitment and candidate presentation and preparation process. We also give significant training to our staff as well as other benefits, which would be unfair to write-off when someone decides to jump-ship to work with a competitor. This does not happen often though, and Sapienza has one of the most stable workforces in ESA, with most of our staff staying with us 5 years or more, and many who are now reaching their 15-year work anniversary with us. At Sapienza, we promote to all our staff the benefits that Sapienza employees gain from our relationship with ABN-AMRO, which includes pensions. Many of our employees, being expats for whom a Dutch pension scheme might be less beneficial if leaving the country later-on, choose not to opt for a Dutch pension plan. It is disheartening to hear that a staff member has such a poor opinion of the company. Especially as you have been invited on numerous occasions to meet Sapienza management formally and during our many company social events, but unfortunately you decided not to use this opportunity to engage with us. Sapienza is not a vindictive, nor a menacing company, but quite the opposite. We have many accounts of our staff appreciating our empathic approach and the care that we provide for our staff when they need it the most during difficult times. We are still happy to discuss with you your career progression within Sapienza and would like to work with you to help us change your negative perception of the company. Kind regards, Sapienza management
3.0
8 Nov 2017

overall

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good in interesting environment, working for ESA and in ESTEC. Possibilities for additional learning.

Cons

Low possibilities for promotion. Bad salary, no benefits, and bad management. The management is more interested in income then in staff.

2.0
23 Jul 2018

Would not recommend. Compare with other companies first.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only good thing is the variety of courses they offer (from Client's budget).

Cons

As manpower, you are literally being ripped off. Great secrecy. They don't even inform you of your job category (you find out from other sources, anyway) and the salary ranks associated to it (if you knew, you would know they are probably offering you a salary for an inferior category). Very friendly and pro-active before you sign the contract. After that, things change. Very strict, menacing even, about the Non-competition policy. Personal assessments look like interrogatories, at least when you try to ask legitimate questions about categories, salaries, benefits. Would advise anyone to stear clear.

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Sapienza Response
7y
Dear Anonymous, We’re pleased you used the opportunities to develop your professional competences at a variety of courses Sapienza offered to you. Indeed, we place a lot of emphasis on employee development and have a dedicated Training Academy, with the expectation to challenge them and help qualify for increasingly advanced positions as they grow. Contrary to what you say, Sapienza covers all the costs of your courses, because we believe in investing in our employees. In return, we expect them to be independent, responsible and respectful of our company culture and to fulfil our clients needs. We value and generously reward loyalty, hard work and talent, specifically in that order. Formal performance reviews are essential to take notice of your professional growth and for us to receive feedback in a structured way from you and device mutually beneficial training plans or address under performance and establish recovery plans. A job category is how our clients define their needs/requirements and it is not directly linked to a specific salary. Client ranks are not ours to share, as we are bound by confidentiality agreements that we respect in full. We do have non-competition clauses in our contracts because we make large investment in our staff and we help them grow so that they can become leaders in our organisation of that of our clients, in exchange we expect a certain standard of loyalty. We find this kind of reviews challenging but important to respond to and act upon as opportunities to ever improve our organisation. However, we do have to take some with a pinch of salt as we have to consider whether this could be just trolling. If this is not the case our management is always open to meet and learn from a disappointed past employee (please do get in contact!).
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Glassdoor has 41 Sapienza reviews submitted anonymously by Sapienza employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Sapienza is right for you.