I joined Hotjar a while ago and, since day one, I was really impressed by the product, the culture, the values and the people.
Hotjar was one of the best companies I’ve worked for.
Everything changed when the company was acquired by ContentSquare. This is what we got:
- Three rounds of layoffs.
- Transparent global salary bands replaced with obscure geo-localised bands where people in “low-cost” countries are penalised in terms of salary and growth opportunities.
- PTO, sick leave and mental health days removed.
- Very incompetent and arrogant C-suite.
- Toxic working culture, where constructive feedback (especially upwards) is not appreciated or even allowed.
- General incompetence, sometimes justified by the fact that “we’re French”.
Congratulations ContentSquare. You’ve destroyed Hotjar, Heap, and are on track to dig your own grave.
I’d like to give a special thanks to Mohannad Ali (ex-CEO of Hotjar) who promised us that “none of our benefits will change at any point in time” as a result of the acquisition.
Bye bye, Hotjar, it was a pleasure.
