Shocking treatment of staff, management will drive company into the ground - Information Security Program Manager Cofense Employee Review

1.0
23 Mar 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote working, nice people within the teams, you feel bad leaving them behind!

Cons

Tired and outdated products that haven't moved with the times, the same sales rhetoric repeated to customers who just buy products to tick a compliance box. No general security practice, shocking for a company who sells a security product. There was also a very ill thought out phish about company lay offs that they felt appropriate to send to the company shortly after an actual RIF. Have some respect for the lives you damaged. Management would hold meetings to inform the company that more masses of the work force were fired overnight, never any strategy in place to take over the new work loads. They made the mistake of allowing anonymous questions on one call and got ripped into by the angry employees. Next call this feature was conveniently turned off and some tale was spun about if transparency is expected from management then people cant hide behind anonymous questions. Those who were foolish enough to believe there was no consequence to saying a negative word about the company or its mismanagement were met with a threatening call from the general council who would in short say if you dont like it leave. I was never offered any training in my entire time at the company or any career development. Its a sinking ship and i hope when it reaches the bottom the co-founders dont run off with another payout whilst others were left with nothing.

Explore other reviews about Cofense

5.0
29 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Cofense was a great company to work for. I loved the mission and the work. I’d work there again!

Cons

Layoffs became a regular thing which is why I found an offer elsewhere.

2.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

it was great back in the day, went downhill around 2022ish Great benefits Good parental leave, including paternity leave Extra perks like: $1k HSA contribution $250/month phone stipend Flexible schedule and autonomy (used to be) Some genuinely good people still there but most left end of 2025 big name clients i like the new ceo

Cons

morale is super low and it's an elephant in the room Constant identity crisis. Strategy changes every few months... there seems to be an extreme disconnect from reality both internal and externally Massive turnover across sales with little revenue produced, ~5 CROs in a year, 3 VPs of Sales in 2 years, 6 reps gone, VPs of engineering, finance and legal recently left, 3 CEOs in a few years etc constant feeling of instability due to consistent layoffs that were told weren't coming, despite performance - i believe there were 4 RIFs in ~3 years Many tenured employees were laid off while underperformers or friends of leadership stayed/replaced them Marketing provided limited support to renewals and tried to tell new biz sales how to sell. it took months to produce basic material. Product innovation is painfully slow and falling behind. minor UI updates are celebrated while major customer-requested features sit untouched for years and continue to be delayed. leaders "been there forever" and have blinders to the broader industry. pressure for client retention bordered desperation if you're looking to work here, you should inquire about actual W2 earnings, quota attainment & renewals book/ client attrition, percentage of reps hitting numbers, turnover rate internal training felt elementary and chaotic, minimal incoming leads Communication internally is poor sales leadership was MIA in the trenches but seem to inflate their participation to higher-ups. pushed a sell while sleeping culture a comp plan is only good if it's realistic to hit. The company still seems convinced it’s the market leader while ignoring how quickly competitors and newer solutions are evolving.

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