Dying a slow death - Anonymous employee Sage Employee Review

1.0
Nov 9, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Loyal but waning customer base. Sage is a FTSE 100 tech business, so looks good on a CV. Generous bonus scheme. Some nice people, but most lack the requisite skills to carry out their role.

Cons

Confused strategy and approach to execution. Company masquerades as a “SaaS business”, but not many people there know what this means. While competitors have grown at 10% plus during lockdown, Sage is celebrating 4% - it’s only a matter of time before investors abandon in favour of better opportunities, with knock on effects for colleagues. Company is ruled with an iron fist by Hare, Perkins and Howell - none of whom have a single day of experience managing a “SaaS” business outside of Sage. A fear culture is pervasive and instilled from the top - management are terrified of their bosses, and consistently do the wrong thing in order to appease them and protect themselves. Management work toward their bonus each year, and will do anything to protect this. There is an endemic culture of positive toxicity - if you disagree with company message/approach you are automatically labelled a troublemaker or not a team player and quietly shown the door. HR function is complicit in this - management are remunerated based on glass door scores, hence the eager response to comments on here!

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Sage Response
4y
As we continue to learn from experimentation and disruption, our strategic priorities and focus are clear defined to ensure we achieve our goals. We continue to build our internal talent and pride ourselves on having smart people who are passionate and amazing at what they do whilst balancing that with hiring smart people to strengthen our bench of talent. Thank you for leaving a review and ask that you continue to share your constructive feedback through our internal channels so that we can continue to improve.

Explore other reviews about Sage

5.0
Jun 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work life balance is the strongest attribute at Sage. Family matters and mental stablity is supported. Top notch benefits.

Cons

Departments with mixed roles of similar tasks, yet separate teams without collaboration.

2.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

was hired as remote and get to have that honored, but have been openly told no career progression because of remote status. decent pay

Cons

Leadership instability: Seven manager changes during my relatively short tenure. Unrealistic targets: A sales quota set at 1,100% growth (not a typo). Slow product development: Getting anything actioned on the product side takes far too long. Product management turnover: Three product manager changes, resulting in no meaningful deliverables in over three years. Misaligned hiring priorities: Greater emphasis on DEI optics than on hiring people positioned to drive growth. Internal vs. customer focus: More energy spent on internal events than on product enhancements. Lack of accountability (the biggest issue): No one takes ownership. Responsibility gets passed around constantly — for example, client cancellations going unprocessed because they impact someone's numbers. Managers have openly encouraged pushing the work onto someone else rather than handling it.

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Sage Response
2w
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about the challenges you’ve described around leadership continuity, targets, growth, and ways of working. We recognise the impact that stability, clear accountability, and achievable goals can have on the day-to-day experience of our colleagues, particularly within sales and customer-facing roles. We shall share your feedback with leaders for their visibility as we continue to evolve how we support our teams to truly thrive at work. If you have any additional insights to share, please leave us more feedback via our internal Always Listening forum or through your manager. Thank you again for sharing your perspective.
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