Between startup Agility and Corporate complexity
Arbeitsatmosphäre
The working environment at refurbed has evolved significantly over the past years. What initially operated as a fast-paced startup environment has gradually developed structures that resemble those of a larger corporation, with strategic decisions increasingly concentrated among a smaller group of senior leaders.
At the same time, the organization continues to operate with characteristics typical of a startup, such as strict budget management, limited human resources, and a strong focus on performance targets. As a result, teams often operate under high expectations to deliver ambitious objectives while working within constrained resources.
Work-Life-Balance
Workload levels are extremely high, and while many employees (depending on their role or team) have flexibility in organizing their daily working hours, the volume of work exceeds in permanence what can reasonably be completed within a standard 8-hour workday. This creates sustained performance pressure. The company offers benefits such as the possibility to work from other locations for up to three months per year, although the high workload can make it difficult for some employees to fully benefit from this flexibility. In general: maintaining work–life balance is very challenging. There have been multiple burnouts across various teams but now one is talking about it.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
It depends highly on your manager but in general your growth is in your own hands and unless you are very pushy it is not a prio neither for your manager nor for the company. They prefer bringing “external experts” vs promoting their own employees who have a proven track record. Based on a yearly performance review there is a certain “Personal Development Plan” which is put in place but as there are always other priorities and too many to-do’s the manager rarely takes it seriously. (There are exceptions) Based on your individual learning plan you are entitled for a budget to improve your skills but there is no more transparency about who has how much budget (it was more transparent before).There are internal workshops organized during the office weeks which are always helpful and a good way of getting to know other departments and to acquire new skills.
Gehalt/Benefits
There is no transparency about the salaries in the company. There are different career levels and the salaries are tied to them. Refurbed is underpaying vs competitors especially taking into account the multiple hats and responsibilities that one needs to wear when working at the company. The inspiring mission, the flexible working hours together with the remote work opportunity have always served as an excuse for the underpayment. There are no perks, the fact that the employees are spread across Europe has always served as an excuse to not give any benefits “in order to have a fair treatment” to all employees. For Xmas don’t expect much except for maybe a box of pasta (with the logo of the company on it) or a pair of socks (with the face of the founders). The employee discount that you can get on refurbed products is not worth mentioning. The employee discount code is not working during high sales periods e.g. Black Friday.
In 2025 for the first time the leadership decided to give out a one time employee performance cash bonus across all teams
Kollegenzusammenhalt
One of refurbed's strength. Employees across teams are generally mission driven, cooperative and highly knowledgeable, and many demonstrate a strong commitment to achieving results. Collaboration and professionalism are across the entire organization.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Leadership capabilities vary across teams. I personally had 5 managers during my 4.5 years at the company. Unfortunately my experience is that refurbed prefers bringing external expertise in management roles vs promoting internally. The managers I had completely lacked leadership skills. They struggled themselves with what priorities were and were incapable of protecting the team from the extreme and often unnecessary workload. They did not have much agency over the C-level which resulted in a lot of frustration and stress in my team. They were more like politicians (lobbyists) vs true emphatic leads.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Remote and Home Office options are great, flexible working hours as well but it‘s expected of you that you work overtime for sure and if you don’t do this you can forget about getting a promotion. The Vienna office is beautiful, perfectly equipped and centrally located.
The quarterly office weeks are demanding but fun and provide a good way to connect with your colleagues in real life.
Kommunikation
There is too much going on in the company and it is difficult to filter. Prepare yourself for an information overflow. Monthly townhall meetings are useful to get the big picture of the company performance, events and everything else you should know about. Founders are accessible and you can contact any C-level at any time.
Interessante Aufgaben
100% that you will never be bored at refurbed. You can always find somehting interesting to do . You learn a lot by doing and interacting with other teams vs internal trainings.