Emma reviews

My experience in the Marketing team was marked by instability, burnout and a lack of psychological safety. From the beginning, it was clear that the team was already overwhelmed: two team members openly mentioned being burned out and feeling constantly under pressure. Already in my first month, I received hostility out of nowhere and without any apparent reason, from the senior colleague in the team. This included abrupt responses, unnecessarily harsh treatment, and situations where I felt exposed in front of the entire team. When I raised this with my manager, the response didn’t help. I was told that I needed to “recover my credibility”, that this colleague was simply “like that” and blunt, and that I should get used to it, despite being new to the company. When I asked for guidance, I was told it would be better to resolve everything on my own because escalating further might make me look like I couldn’t handle my own issues. Only when I mentioned escalating to senior leadership did the tone change, but by then the damage had already been done. My three-month review continued in the same direction. The feedback was extremely critical for someone with only three months in the company, with expectations far beyond a realistic onboarding period. I was expected to already master complex troubleshooting processes, fully adopt a methodology that wasn’t documented, deliver roadmaps for several countries, redesign dashboards, and drive multiple strategic initiatives, all while dealing with unclear processes, unstable data and a visibly burned-out team. It felt disconnected from what a newcomer could reasonably deliver in that environment. There was also a collective feedback session which felt unusual to me, where we were asked to comment on the work environment in front of everyone. In that meeting, the senior colleague openly said he would rate the environment “zero out of ten”, mentioning workload, lack of recognition and constant pressure. Despite such a clear and serious signal from the team itself, nothing changed afterwards, which made it even more evident that these issues were structural and not being addressed. Later, another colleague left and the manager went on maternity leave unexpectedly . Ironically, after those changes, the workflow became smoother and more organised, but the emotional impact of the earlier months remained and shaped my overall experience. Before leaving, the senior colleague apologised and explained that he had been diagnosed with burnout, which helped me contextualise some of the behaviour I experienced. However, the fact that this situation escalated to that point, without the company addressing the underlying issues earlier, only reinforced how deep the structural problems were within the team.

Salary / Immigrant life: Where do I start… I joined Emma on a work visa. To begin with, there is no real support or training — the company works on a “go figure it out” basis, which might be fine for people who thrive in that kind of environment, but if you need structure to do your job, you’ll probably get frustrated. Emma’s main strategy is to bring in qualified talent from abroad, and the only reason the company is based in Portugal is because it’s cheaper. I accepted an offer as a Marketing Manager, and when I arrived, I quickly realized that people around me with the exact same title were earning much more (around 50% more) for doing the same role. The same thing happens across teams: if you work for the France or UK team, you’ll get paid more than those working for Portugal, Brazil, or Spain — even if the job is identical. There have even been cases where Team Leads earned less than the people they managed, simply because those people had been transferred from a higher-paying team. So if you’re coming from a country with lower salaries, be careful — yes, they will sponsor your visa, but your salary will be far below what your European colleagues make. My advice: if that’s your situation, join, learn and absorb as much as you can, stay until you secure residency, and then move on to better opportunities. There’s also a strong rumor inside Emma that early employees earn much more than the offers made after 2024. This creates a situation where many people stay only because they can’t find another job that pays as much as their old contract. But if you’re joining on a recent offer, your salary will likely be low. Honestly, I believe there are other companies in Lisbon paying better. Career: Management will constantly push you to take on more responsibilities under the idea of “ownership,” but often without financial compensation. A classic startup move. Career progression is also unclear — many Team Leads are first given the responsibilities and only later (sometimes much later) receive a salary adjustment. The common saying inside is that being a Team Lead pays off in experience, but not in money. Benefits: Benefits are not impressive. They use Coverflex, which actually comes out of 10% of your salary — Emma sells it as a benefit, but in reality, it’s just a tax optimization for them. The health insurance is also poor: for a €100 consultation, you might get only €30 reimbursed. On top of that, some employees had to wait up to three months before they could even use the health plan. Overall: It’s an okay company to spend up to two years in, but not more. Pay close attention to salary and nationality differences. Personally, I lost a lot of money at Emma because of this. Marketing & Operations: If you’re a creative person, you might find Emma very frustrating. The company operates strictly based on ROAS — if you can’t prove it, your idea won’t get approved. That might be fine once or twice, but it quickly becomes stressful when you see so many opportunities wasted just because it’s impossible to calculate the exact return in advance. On top of that, you realize the company tries to frame everything around numbers, but those numbers are highly manipulable. Employees in the Manila office work excessively long hours, in a way that is clearly exhausting for them. And don’t be misled by the word manager — it’s a classic ex-startup move. At Emma, basically every full-time employee is at least a “manager.” The only ones who aren’t are interns.