High Turnover + Mgmt has zero backbone + Low Pay + Toxic Culture + EXPE Politics + Dark firing of employees = AVOID !!! - Staff Software Engineer Vrbo Employee Review

Engineering Managers have no backbone whatsoever and provide zero value-add function since the EXPE buyout. That is, they have no influence or power other than to approve vacation for direct reports. New EXPE Product forces are running the show now. So, what you get is Engineering Managers randomizing slack chats and starting fires to look busy. They stay greenlit at all hours of the day/night on slack, but yet provide zero business value unless you count asking unbelievably stupid questions in standup just to act like they are contributing. It's all a horrible painful political game. New world order EXPE product says jump and Engineering Managers say how high. Management who are at risk of being managed out are now firing direct reports for NON-work misconduct. I know because a colleague was recently fired for outlandish reasons. I'm writing this review because I want my colleagues' story to be known (and some of my own experience). My colleague, who worked in a different group put in for vacation (2-3 weeks) as time off to help her elderly father in poor health. My colleague's manager said that was fine and to report back with weekly updates. Two days later her manager asked if she wanted to take FMLA (family medical leave). She said that wouldn't be necessary. Two days after that she received a voice mail from her manager that Friday at 5 pm stating her position had been terminated due to unapproved time off. She said that after having 6-7 friendly email exchanges with her manager prior to the "you're fired" voice mail there was not one mention that her time off was unapproved. Her attorney said the reason they asked about FMLA is that employers can't fire you if you are on FMLA. She filed for unemployment and documented everything. Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) ruled in favor of my colleague, stating that the firing was improper. TWC wrote: "Our investigation found that your employer fired you for the reason that was NOT misconduct connected with the work." HomeAway fired her with no severance and terminated her benefits that same day. At least she was able to get unemployment. Do you really want to work for a company who treats their employees like this? Go work for Google, Facebook, Apple or for that matter anybody other than HomeAway/Expedia or whatever they are calling themselves these days VRBO.lol.