Worst tech firm, period. - Anonymous employee TikTok Employee Review

1.0
15 Sept 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

✅ Working hours: Flexible, great for working parents ✅ Remote working option ✅ Standard employee benefits like most tech companies: Health insurance (medical, vision, dental), food allowance (Deliveroo credits), gifts on special occasions (ie., Christmas, New Years), paid time offs, drinks & snacks at office pantries.

Cons

Disclaimer: Do not assume this is a China company culture or behaviour. This is simply an organisation that ruined their culture due to bad hiring -- this can happen to any organisation that lacks proper leadership planning, regardless of nationality. ❌ Compensation Package/Employee Benefits - Salary is not competitive to other tech firms, yet claimed they've done research to provide a fair compensation package. - If you come from non-tech, you'll most likely be lowballed. - Worst insurance provider (Aviva), what you see on the insurance handbook is not what you may be able to claim. If you escalate this to HR on call, you might get your money back, all depends on your luck. ❌ Organisation - The company claims to adopt a flat organisational structure, but employees (ie., managers) like to play politics and ranks at work. - Lack of a proper org chart for an organisation that has thousands of employees. - Inefficient communication paths between employees, departments & divisions - Lack accountability for actions or decisions at different management levels, hence slows down work and decision-making (everyone says it's not their job?) - Copycats & lack creativity: Tries so hard to copy literally everything that the other tech giants do without reviewing if it fits the org (ie., Facebook, Google etc. Even office swags looked similar in colours and style?!) - Core values are only for show or to mimic other tech firms. The leadership teams do not do what they preach. - Power struggle among hubs that impacted work efficiency. Leaders need to learn how to collaborate together. - Resignation process is tedious, apart from speaking with your manager and drop a formal notification, you are required submit an application on the app. Also, they may or may not pay the final salary on time. ❌ People - Extremely toxic environment, people backstab each other or play office politics to shine. Rude & competitive, even when they're not skilled. - Mass hiring for the sake of expansion, but literally ANYONE (with/without experience) can join the company, as long as you behave like a "Yes Man" during interviews. - Job mismatch is the biggest problem. When they're not capable of doing their own scope, they do other team's work instead. - A mix of candidates from fresh grads, public sectors, tech & private sectors for the SAME job level. So expect the inexperienced ones contribute nothing, but claim credits for everything. - Workplace bullying committed by higher level management is backed by HR, they'll try to brush it off or blame it on the employees. - HR & management level are pretty gangster, "be candid and clear" ONLY if you have good things to say. They take constructive feedback extremely personally and will most definitely ruin your performance reviews for as long as they can remember. ❌ Work - A huge discrepancy between actual work vs. job description. Job mismatch is a norm here. - Plenty of manual & duplicate work, because not all hires are familiar with basic tools or systems commonly used in tech firms. - Lack work life balance or unable to finish work within 8 working hours, mostly due to inefficiency, resistance to new changes/technology, manual or no processes to guide, lack of time management & prioritisation. - No flight plan or job progression paths for employees to work on next steps. Performance review scores were based on favouritism not job performance. When being questioned, they simply cannot provide any basis of your scoring and will blame it on employees.

Explore other reviews about TikTok

5.0
11 May 2026
Anonymous intern
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good experience. Everyone is nice.

Cons

Pretty good actually. During internship did nor find any negative issues.

1.0
21 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some truly fantastic and talented people in the company who make daily collaboration a great experience. Additionally, the insurance and overall health benefits package is quite strong and comprehensive.

Cons

The work culture is heavily driven by top-down directives from HQ, leaving little room for open discussion, transparency, or questioning management decisions. The bi-yearly rating cycle feels highly punitive and is frequently used to target individuals rather than foster growth, leading to an environment where anyone can be abruptly let go. Work-life balance is virtually non-existent due to tedious, high-volume workloads and constant alignment with overseas timelines. Furthermore, leadership instability is a constant concern; local management changes rapidly, frequently replaced by leaders from the parent company, creating an unpredictable and highly volatile work environment.

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