Pros
Initial note: I've tried to give a fair review based my own experience and others as I observed during my time at Klook. Yes, my experience may not reflect everyone's, but I've done by best to describe both the good and bad as things are not usually all one or the other. Covid has seriously upended Klook's industry and almost their survival, and this has definitely created problems that don't have easy solutions. However, when times are good, problems are frequently brushed under the rug and overlooked. When times are bad, you have to face those problems, and ineffective leaders get exposed. Hopefully some of these issues will be addressed for future employees, as my experience was the worst of my career - I'm lucky to still have a career at all after what happened at Klook. - Good office location - Most coworkers are great to work with, and try hard. I really made a lot of great connections here. - Fresh fruit every week, and some other benefits that got canceled due to Covid - Probably some travel opportunities if no Covid - Some career advancement opportunity if you are on the right team (but on the wrong one, you will suffer and possibly be going the opposite way)
Cons
- Below market salary - No equity (would expect at least a token amount given the salary level and startup stage) - Extremely long hours - most managers will expect you to work past midnight and on weekends. This is true across the business. You looking for a work/life balance? LOL. - Very little recognition - this has started to be addressed just recently, as people have made their feelings known that they don't feel recognized for their work. There are some token recognitions available now, but they mean little. The company culture is one that does not recognize effort and some simply take credit for other's efforts. - Extreme hierarchical structure - Oh, were you looking for a flat organization tech startup where your opinions are considered? Look elsewhere. This is not true of all teams, but from my experience (and hearing others'), you may be punished for taking initiative or having original ideas. It was disappointing to observe the [position(s) redacted] remain unlikely to listen to others, simply giving orders and frequently wasting time as everyone waits their turn to speak with them. I had the opportunity to be managed by one of them, and would wait up to a week before messages were replied to. Emails and messages are missed on a weekly basis, so this would be a typical back-and-forth (I can't count how many times): [Position(s) redacted]: "Why haven't you sent me the _______ about _______? I asked for this on Monday" Peon: "Sorry, I sent this to you on Monday, via email" [Position(s) redacted]: "Oh. Right. [frantically checks email for this message, among 2,000 unchecked emails] ..... [doesn't find it] ....... Well, I'll follow up with you after this meeting then" So, did you have a good idea to share? Forget it - Klook is not the place for that. You will sit down, listen to what you're told to do, and keep quiet. And this brings me to my next point, - Negative reinforcement, blame culture, public shaming - In at least 3 cases I personally witnessed the [position(s) redacted] mentioned above insulting, screaming, and embarrassing me or my coworkers in front of many others - I'm sure it was not limited to these 3 cases, and I frequently heard screaming in other meetings I was not present in. This was having a noticeable impact on people's mental health, to which I unexpectedly became a mentor/guide/listener to try and support people who were quietly suffering in silence. Before Klook, I had never experienced something like this. It is a total failure of leadership to shame someone in front of the entire team - it has no positive benefit, and simply lowers morale of everyone on the call. It was a real shock to see this, and we were powerless to do anything about it - not when the organization is heavily influenced by a stubborn industry veteran who is not open to new information. This leads me to my next point, - No people development or importance placed on people management - do you think you're a good manager of people? Would you like to develop your team to become better? Are you looking to develop yourself professionally? Again, this is not the place for you. In my evaluation, there was a 0% weight on people management and team development - it is simply not considered as a priority for Klook. With this kind of organizational reinforcement, managers reduce their efforts in this area (why would you spend time on something that gets you nothing), and eventually everyone suffers. Klook as an organization has very few effective managers, mostly because people are told this is a waste of time. - Wasted time and effort - the business is surprisingly manual, and you will find yourself still working on a lot of Google sheets and administrative work - this organization LOVES a presentation deck with a bunch of words on it. I can't tell you how many wasted hours I spent in meetings or drafting presentations to simply show the upper management we're doing things, rather than actually DOING THEM. If you love this kind of 'busy work', then this is the right spot for you. The underlying issue here is that some upper management do not trust their people to actually do things, and needs this kind of hand-holding rather than just allowing people the freedom to do it. I've tried to avoid the temporary Covid-related problems, because it wouldn't be fair to judge an organization on something that they can't control. All the things I've mentioned above are very controllable and will hold Klook back in the future. I can see they are just beginning to listen and change, but it's changing at a snail's pace - and a fraction of the speed of what a startup should be doing. Even the best performers were running for the exit and looking for other jobs, because their efforts simply weren't recognized - not a Covid problem. So many great coworkers were given token promotions (change or addition in title, no change in compensation) and bided their time until they could find something better - sometimes jumping sideways, not up as they deserved - not a Covid problem. Very little positive reinforcement anywhere - simply an attitude of 'oh, you finished? here's the next thing'. It's a thankless approach that makes everyone feel worse, and like no one cares about the effort you put in - which engenders even less effort and creativity down the line - not a Covid problem. Klook is an extremely young organization (average age 28?) and needs guidance and leadership to be effective. Juniors and interns would be thrown to the wolves with no direction, because Klook doesn't place any importance on people development, and then they would be blamed for not performing up to expectation. Who's expectation? How can they improve if developing them is not a measurable goal or even mentioned in performance reviews? - not a Covid problem. I won't get into the ever-changing priorities of the business, unclear direction, and confusing business strategy, because this could be considered a Covid problem. I don't envy the people at the top during 2020, because it's been a difficult road. It was not easy to let people go twice, but necessary for the business to survive. Frankly I was lucky to keep my job at all, when so many others around me fell on their sword (well, they were pushed onto it). The sad thing is, there are so many great people at Klook who could be contributing so much more if they were doing meaningful work. If business leaders asked questions, or had any trust in the people below them, the whole organization could be exponentially more productive. I witnessed so many wasted days from poor communication where the [position(s) redacted] ruled with an iron fist, the people below them were simply trying to please them and couldn't understand their objectively poor directions. Now we're starting to get into 'not a Covid problem'. One final note: I had the worst experience of my career here - I received positive feedback from everyone I worked with, worked long hours to try to impress (I had not failed at any position before this), and even raised the flag to HR when I thought something might be wrong. Unfortunately I ran into one of the people I referenced above, who demoted me, cut my salary permanently, and removed my direct reports - all based on no written guidelines or goals or anything. I had no recourse and was powerless to do anything but accept the judgment of someone who observed me for no more than a few minutes. For sure this experience did not happen to everyone, or else their Glassdoor rating would be much closer to 1 overall. And, it may not happen to you. BUT - are you willing to roll the dice? Klook offers a few different paths: - career progression with a below average salary and no equity - career stagnation, do a lot of busy work, work long hours, just do enough to get by and not get fired - career destruction where you will be forced to leave and take a lesser role somewhere else just to escape I hope people read this. Klook has a lot of great people that are quietly suffering. I would say flip a coin - heads, you'll have a good experience. tails, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.
