Wise reviews

3.7

67% would recommend to a friend

(2,309 total reviews)
avatar

Kristo Käärmann

76% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

Wise has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 2,309 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Wise employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finanzas industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
May 12, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work at home Money is ok Fellow employees seem nice and helpful

Cons

Wasn’t honest on a variety of things, including scheduling, and helping you to succeed. I started out having a great interview where I seemed to mix it up well with my manager. After being offered the position we went through 5 weeks of training that was all initiated over Zoom. I was one among maybe 10 new hires that worked a 9-5 Mon- Fri shift. Training was broken up each week by a new group of trainers that used PowerPoints for the majority of training. The training was arduous. It’s a banking job so there was hours upon hours of policies and procedures. Every other day we took a 10 question assessment, and each Friday we took a end of week wrap-up test. Trainers emphasized to all of us several times not to stress out on the assessments , to just do your best. If you failed a weekly quiz you could retake it until you passed. The material was dense, and overwhelming at times. Trying to stay focused after hours of procedural training was a battle of attrition. I got along w my teammates really well and their camaraderie made the stress of learning all the material go by quickly. After about 3 weeks our group separated into their respective roles with their managers and new teams. From here I started to get more personalized training from my manager and team directly. We had a end of week assessment (the most difficult to date) and I needed a 80% to pass and only scored a 77%. I was told several different times that this was normal and that I would have the rest of the week to go over the material I got wrong and retake the test. Believing that they had my interests in mind I relaxed my nerves and studied. When I took the test again I scored a 100%, I knew the material that I had missed earlier inside and out. Later in the day my manager emailed me telling me to join him in a zoom room with his manager to discuss the test. It Seemed that my bosses manager didn’t want me retaking the test where the questions were the same as my last test (which was odd because this has been the structure through all 5 weeks of training). I was told verbatim “we’re going to give you a new test w different questions and you’ll have 2 hours to complete it, but don’t let it stress you out...even if you fail it we’ll get you the proper help you need...so no worries....you won’t get fired for failing a quiz”. So I was given a new test with all essay questions (all prior tests were multiple choice), and I did the best I could not being able to study any specific areas ahead of time. I received a 65% on my first attempt on the new test. Upset I emailed my manager and said “I’m feeling a lot of pressure w these assessments considering how I studied for and passed the last one only for it to be thrown out and a new test administered that I didn’t prepare for. My manager responded telling me that it’s ok, and he’ll get w his manager to discuss a game plan for the future so that I’m comfortable moving forward...mind you by this time I was in week 5 and actively working cases and sending emails and communicating w clients. The next morning I was called into a zoom room with both managers plus an HR rep. My manager asked if my day was going well and I responded yes....then his manager briefly went over some of the questions I got wrong on my last test. Once she finished w/o missing a beat the HR rep said “we’re going to have to part ways with you, you’re not a good fit for the company right now “. Needless to say I was shocked, and assessing the tone of the meeting they had already made up their minds even after saying all trainers and employees I worked with had nothing but good things to say about me, they didn’t want to engage in any type of discussion. So my advice to anyone whose hired: take what they tell you w a grain of salt. I was told the assessments wouldn’t get you fired (several times)...that was a lie. I was told that I would be getting a permanent 9-5 shift Mon-Friday....that was a lie, as soon as my training w my actual team started they said I’ll have late night shifts and work weekend days. I was told emphatically how they’re here for you and your personal development, and offer a multitude of support....that was a lie. I left a company I had a job with and was secure in ....believing that I would have at least an opportunity to prove myself at Wise, only to be turned away after 5 weeks because I wasn’t a “good fit”?

avatar
Wise Response
5y
Hi, thank you for your review. I’m really sad to hear this was your experience at Wise. This is the opposite of how we want people to feel when they leave us. I hope you were able to leave your thoughts with your lead, the training or People team before you left. If you're up for a conversation, I’d like to hear more about your particular experience. Feel free to email employerbrand@wise.com so we could chat. Best wishes, Maire
2.0
Jun 10, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Extremely friendly people, the office team is the best I have ever seen (so many fun things are organised, delicious Friday buffet), the satisfaction of making a contribution in people's lives by helping them save money (compared to banks)

Cons

The company has recently digressed a lot from its core values. It is no longer a "revolution" because there are so many companies who are doing the exact same things and they do it better. There is no sense of urgency of "getting things done" - people are focussed on turf wars, there is lots of politics going on with respect to ownership, the oldies in the company seem to think they are the powerful authorities, forming cliques amongst them - backing each other, giving promotions to their countrymen, not listening to criticisms, but overly eager to project the negative effects (arising from their behaviour) on the other members of their teams. We no longer keep customers first - we regularly increase prices to get more profit margins for the investors (but blame the increasing costs of employee salaries, which are way below market standards), we no longer are transparent to the customers, we are regressing on the speed of transfers the last few months, the product is unusable, the tech stack is unstable - but the product managers don't seem to care about them. "No drama, good karma" - literally the opposite happens. There are ego problems with the oldies and leads, they can't take negative feedback and escalate to their leads if you tell them about these, code reviews will get blocked because it is not written as per the other person's whims, leads and product managers regularly do catch-ups as part of their day jobs, but nothing concrete ever comes that improves the product for the customers or the employees' careers, leads getting away by doing only easy tasks and literally exploiting the travel and remote opportunities to the maximum for themselves. There is no autonomy anymore - please don't get fooled by the blog posts, the company is growing big and it is the leads who will be the managers and have literally unlimited control and zero accountability.

avatar
Wise Response
6y
Thank you for your time to share your current experience at TransferWise. Feedback is really important to us and we encourage people to take an active role in shaping and preserving our culture so we can stay focused on the mission and stay true to our values. We are concerned about some of the details mentioned here and to our knowledge, these have not been raised to our people or through one of our many feedback channels/options to date. As you will have seen, Mihkel (one of our Engineering Managers outside of tribe) has made himself available to look into this feedback so I would encourage you to reach out to him to discuss further. We hope you follow up. Thanks, Kate
1.0
Apr 18, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Free Breakfast & lunch once a week - team planning abroad - almost a holiday and they give you a daily allowance (cash upfront) - Office sauna (never used very creepy location IN the kitchen) as a women would never use! - Free alcohol - Decent mat/pat leave

Cons

- Monzo/Sterling/Actual banks pay better - Toxic leadership (Harsh the only exception) - Spending £4million of CUSTOMER MONEY on flying 3000 people around the world for parties twice a year! including flights, hotel, food and alcohol, member of leadership DJs! - "no drama, good karma" slogan but still cover up lack of policy, drama, bullying and racism. - Manager spend more time glorifying doing the work than actually working. - Witnessed bullied, harassed, racism and sexism. - Forcing employees to embrace woke culture to attract talent (as so many people leave - industry known that Wise cannot retain talent) - Always having the feeling that you will be fired, the worst place I've ever worked for. - Big push on mental health but its all a front for articles and linkedin posts - Cant pay people correctly, huge problems with the most basic operations - pulled out of countries because they couldnt support the business model anymore - micromanaging - HR is a JOKE! if you have a disability do not hold your breath that Wise will help - Stock awarded at 12 week mark (30k) which replenishs every 4 years (others give you stock every year) No bonuses (business needs to save money) clearly by spending so much money on parties/dinners abroad

avatar
Wise Response
1y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We absolutely do not tolerate behaviours of harassment, bullying, sexism and racism, as our Code of Conduct makes clear. You've voiced a number of concerns which we would encourage you to speak to your lead about. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, you can always speak confidentially with your local People Advisor who can provide any support you may need. Wise is and has always been committed to promoting a supportive and inclusive work environment where our employees are able to thrive. Nicola
Viewing 4 - 6 of 2,309 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,532 Wise reviews submitted anonymously by Wise employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Wise is right for you.