I worked at Indeed for 7 years across various different departments and functions. When I think about my time at Indeed, I feel devastated. It's difficult to explain how much these 7 years damaged my career, my health and my personal relationships. I started off like any excited, confident new hire and drank the cool aid. I never would have imagined the life turns that would keep me stuck in a toxic environment, or the decline it would take on my self esteem, and how hard it would be to break the cycle, and reclaim my career, my health and rebuild my relationships.
Over my 7 years, there were several incredibly toxic male managers, and a host of males in the chain of command above them who supported them. There is a Vice news article on harassment at Indeed and the culture during my time there, for external reference.
Sometimes things were OK for a short while, but what was consistent about Indeed was cowardice. Leadership was too cowardly to deal with toxic managers who were allowed to run amok. They were too cowardly to take action towards actual innovation. They were too cowardly to make clear decisions. All this resulted in political infighting, stagnation, and a culture where the worst were allowed to rise while hardworking and well intended employees were demoralized and not able to work to their potential.
Projects were continually cancelled after having been approved and worked on for many months or even years and never launched, leaving me with only a fraction of what I was capable of accomplishing or what my peers were doing in other companies. These were projects which had even been labeled as top strategic priorities for the company, and even for Indeed's parent company, Recruit. These were not small projects, but career defining projects.
Across all the different teams and departments I worked on, I just kept hoping for Indeed to become the company it says it is. Indeed preached a lot about equality, and I wanted to believe in those values, but in the end, it was only gaslighting. I worked with smart people and I kept thinking that after a new leader was hired or after a reorg or a new opportunity, things would get better. I did try to leave multiple times, but health insurance and difficult family situations kept me feeling stuck. Knowing what I know now, I should have pushed through and left anyway.
I always received strong performance reviews until the very last cycle. I had reached out to HR because a male in my chain of command who was known to be toxic- my immediate boss had also reported him - was harassing me. I asked to be transferred literally anywhere else in the company. I had been there for 7 years at that point. Although the manager had a years long record of complaints and had already been demoted, instead of taking action against him, HR refused my transfer and began making a case against me. This manager had been allowed to stay because the GM of the division protected him. This manager hunted me, slandered me, and did all manner of toxic things. My female boss also ended up resigning because of him - she also couldn't handle the harassment. Not surprisingly, I was laid off in the next round of layoffs. After 7 years. The harassment had become so bad and the projects so stalled out I was kind of relieved. Now, I've reclaimed my health, and I'm working for a company where I am thrilled to ship something new nearly every single sprint. So while I'm on an upward trajectory, I should be several levels high than I am, and the money I have lost in terms of delayed career advancement, especially as a result of never being able to complete projects, is staggering. I kept hoping I could complete one big project to have something good to look back on for my time there. It never happened. Indeed just had more reorgs changing projects and a perpetual cycle of wasted time. My lesson learned is that I will never again allow my time to be wasted the way Indeed wasted it or let myself be treated the way I was treated at Indeed.
