Xello

2,0

15 jul 2021

Aanbevelen

Goedkeuring directeur

Zakelijk vooruitzicht

Pluspunten

The environment and people are really chill, laid back, and easy going. Xello is a 20+ year old company that started in the 90s, but still feels kind of modern, especially for the education industry. The product is really interesting as well and has a mission that is very meaningful to stand behind. It seems like people genuinely care about students and helping them figure things out, which is nice. Some leaders are awesome and quite inspiring.

Minpunten

I write this review and gave it the number of stars that I did mostly because I just can’t help but think that the organization is wasting its potential in a lot of ways. There are so many things they could try to focus on to make things better and to really drive a bigger impact, but they don’t. Here are a few things that come to mind that are the biggest “cons” imo: 1. Throughout COVID-19 (and ongoing), a lot of companies obviously had to really adapt to a lot of ambiguous changes to help bring employee morale up, even if it was just a little bit. But this is a big one where I think Xello is lacking. It’s almost as though the HR (or “Culture”) team is non existent sometimes. They’re nice people, and culture comes from the top (not just the HR team), but I don’t see any noticeable changes other than a reoccurring “Culture Huddle” meeting. I to be honest don’t even know what kind of employee engagement related programs are available for us. I haven’t even been asked to complete any type of HR survey in the years that I’ve been here… Doesn’t the leadership team need our feedback to know what to work on? There’s so much opportunity to improve people connection here and to also offer employees some extra help during these tough times, but that’s never prioritized. 2. This actually leads me to my next point which is all about the company’s compensation and benefits package. I think that generally, the pay rates are lower than average and that the benefits are MUCH below standard. There’s some basic dental and health coverage at 80% which seems somewhat average but everything else is BELOW standard (combines a bunch of stuff to be $500 instead of $500 each??? Nothing for extended health care, nothing for glasses/contacts, etc). I think this is something that the Leadership team should really focus on improving to become competitive. This isn’t the 90s anymore and every other technology company out there seems to offer much more on this front. 3. I mentioned earlier that I think some leaders are cool, and I stand by that. But I also think that there are A LOT of people that have been at Xello for a LONG time and may not have that perspective that newer, more experienced leadership hires might. While I truly do value loyalty as a highly desired trait, in order to stay innovative and competitive, I think every company needs to look elsewhere and find talent with the right industry experience. Xello should really consider looking for external leaders just as much as they promote within. 4. I wish the company focused more on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This would really help make employees feel more valued. It seems to me that at a glance, we do nothing related to this at Xello. In 2020 and 2021 alone, there have been so many societal issues happening, and leaders never seem to acknowledge any of it publicly. How do you expect employees to feel when these things are never brought up? When we feel like we can’t even talk to our managers about how we’re feeling? I’ve been thinking more and more about all of these issues happening in the world lately, along with how to be a better ally to others in general, and I just wish that Xello would invest in educating its staff about these things more.

Reactie van Xello

Hi there, Thank you very much for taking the time to provide this input. It is clear that you’ve done so with the best of intentions, thoughtfulness, and care. We’re very proud of the work we do and the company culture we have developed at Xello over the past 25 years. As you rightly point out, no culture is perfect and it takes persistent, focused effort to maintain a strong company culture. For the sake of clarity, there are a few things that I wanted to note related to your input. 1. Covid has been a challenge for everyone - we miss all the bonding opportunities and events that were possible when we were together in the office. While working remotely, teams have held virtual lunches and we have continued with monthly town halls and celebrations of staff special occasions. To help staff recharge after a year of virtual meetings, we decided to provide all staff with Friday afternoons off throughout the summer. We’re looking forward to reconnecting in-person soon. We also know that varying degrees of remote work is here to stay and we are working to design that work experience so that it fits well with our in-office work experience. Keep an eye out for a survey on this topic in the next few weeks, we’d appreciate your thoughts. 2. Compensation and benefits are benchmarked against market rates annually to ensure we are keeping pace with other companies of our size. We gather market data from a variety of sources including an Ontario specific tech company salary survey. This is a process we take very seriously. 3. When it comes to hiring for management and leadership positions, we are always looking for the best possible candidates, wherever they may be. We welcome the opportunity to bring new ideas into the organization, but we also love to see our staff grow and take on new responsibilities. This has proven to be a very healthy mix for us. This past year, for example, we added new directors of sales and success management from outside Xello, while some of our experienced team members were promoted into strategic territory management roles. A great way for you or any team member to get involved in hiring efforts is to share referrals with our Talent Acquisition Specialists. 4. Given our unique role in helping students plan their futures, supporting diversity and equity in our society has always been a priority for us. As you know, we make significant investments in the content and student-experience of the Xello programs to ensure that all students, regardless of their background or career aspirations, have an opportunity to plan their successful future in Xello. We are actively working to break down the stereotypes that can prevent students from reaching their full potential. We also feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with such a diverse and talented group of people at Xello. Is there more that we can do? Yes. We’re very happy that you have chosen to be part of the Xello team and we’re grateful that you care enough about our wonderful culture to share ideas to make it better. Look for some new initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion very soon. We’d love for some of these initiatives to be led by our amazing staff, so we hope we can count on you to help out. Please reach out if you’d like to get involved and please don’t hesitate to schedule time with myself or anyone on the leadership team if you’d like to discuss any of these topics in more detail. Take care, Katie

1,0

6 apr 2026

Sales

Aanbevelen

Goedkeuring directeur

Zakelijk vooruitzicht

Pluspunten

The product is great, and the mission in K-12 education is meaningful, and there are some truly talented and hardworking people across all teams. Many colleagues are supportive and care deeply about the work.

Minpunten

Unfortunately, the positives are overshadowed by poor leadership and questionable decision-making. The company has a track record of letting go of quota-hitting employees without clear justification, which creates a constant sense of instability and lack of trust. It’s hard to stay motivated when strong performers aren’t valued or protected. Leadership often lacks the backbone to advocate for their teams, especially when it comes to decisions driven by upper management. There’s a noticeable disconnect between leadership and frontline employees, and it frequently feels like employees don’t have anyone in their corner. Another concern is the tendency to overlook strong internal talent in favor of external hires. Great employees who understand the product and culture are passed over, which hurts morale and continuity. The sales organization, in particular, suffers from ineffective leadership. Direction can feel superficial and uninspired, and there’s a lack of meaningful strategy or support. At times, it feels like guidance is reduced to generic motivational phrases rather than actionable leadership. Compensation is also below market compared to other K-12 ed tech companies. Be sure to read the fine print in the commission policy—payouts may not align with expectations, which can be frustrating after putting in the work to close deals. On top of that, there are excessive internal meetings that often feel unnecessary and could easily be reduced to a weekly cadence. This takes away valuable time from actually doing the job.

Lacking, but has lots of potential - werkgeversreview Client Solutions bij Xello

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