Smartly

London
805 Total Employees
Year Founded: 2013

What's the Work-Life Balance Like at Smartly?

Updated on August 31, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Workload Sustainability

Smartly approaches workload and work-life balance through hybrid flexibility, ownership, clear expectations, and proactive wellbeing support. The company is a high-performance environment emphasizes sustainable productivity and individual ownership.

  • Office-first with flexibility:  Smartly supports flexible hybrid work, giving employees space for focused work while still creating meaningful in-person moments through shared office days, team gatherings, lunches, and collaboration time. Employees also have access to global work-from-anywhere options, including up to 60 days per year from another Smartly location or 30 days per year from a non-Smartly location.
  • Ownership and accountability: Smartly’s culture is built around Own the Outcome, which means employees are trusted to take responsibility for their work, manage priorities proactively, and deliver measurable results. This is balanced where teams are expected to collaborate across functions rather than operate in silos.
  • Supportive productivity culture: Employees are encouraged to block focus time, reduce interruptions, and build personalized routines that support deep work and sustainable productivity. Employees can use hybrid work for both deep work and collaboration, while teams rely on open communication, cross-functional alignment, and direct feedback to reduce ambiguity and keep work moving.
  • Wellbeing and life-stage support: Smartly supports employees through different life stages with Auntie program, generous location-based annual leave, paid holidays, sick leave, parental leave in several markets, mental health support, wellness benefits, and family-related support depending on location. These programs help employees recharge, manage personal responsibilities, and balance work with life outside of work.


 

Flexibility Options

Smartly approaches flexible work through a hybrid way of working that balances in-person collaboration, focused work from home, employee trust, and global flexibility. This model is designed to keep employees physically and psychologically connected while fostering agile innovation.

  • Office-first collaboration with flexibility: Smartly’s hybrid model gives employees structure without removing flexibility. For employees in countries with Smartly offices, the standard rhythm is three office days per week: a shared company office day on Thursday, a team collaboration day, and one individual office day chosen by the employee. Office days are used for collaboration, connection, and shared momentum, while remote days support focused work, deep thinking, and productivity.
  • Global remote work options: Employees can also use short-term remote work options, including up to 30 days per year working from anywhere or up to 60 days per year working from another Smartly location. This gives employees additional flexibility to manage personal needs, travel, and life outside of work. Smartly’s benefits data also confirms global Work From Anywhere support under the 30/60-day model.
  • Focus, productivity, and wellbeing: Employees are encouraged to structure their workdays in ways that support focus, collaboration, and sustainable productivity. Smartly’s hybrid model gives teams dedicated office time for alignment and connection, while remote days support routines, calendar blocking, deep work, and personalized workflows that help reduce interruptions and prevent burnout.


 

Mental Health Support

Smartly supports employee mental health and wellbeing through healthcare benefits, professional counseling, wellness, and community connection programs designed to support employees both personally and professionally.

  • Professional mental health support: Smartly provides global mental health support through Auntie, giving eligible employees one package per year with a mental health professional. In the U.S., employees also have access to an Employee Assistance Program, while some countries offer additional support through local healthcare providers.
  • Wellness benefits and recovery support: Employees receive location-based wellness benefits that can support activities such as fitness, massage, mindfulness, or mental health apps. Smartly also offers generous annual leave, time off (PTO), along with paid sick leave, parental leave in several markets, and family-related support to help employees recharge and navigate different life stages.
  • Proactive wellbeing culture: Smartly supports personalized wellbeing through initiatives such as mental wellbeing workshops, stress and burnout resources, journaling sessions, self-care challenges, and focus-time practices like no-meeting days. Managers are encouraged to support healthy workloads through clear priorities, direct feedback, and early awareness of exhaustion signals.
  • Family and community support: Smartly supports employees through family-friendly benefits, inclusive communities, and intentional connection. Depending on location, employees may receive parental leave, paid sick leave, healthcare support, wellness benefits, and family-related support such as sick child leave or childcare-related benefits. Globally, employees have access to mental health support through Auntie for confidential personal or professional support.


 

Smartly's Candidate Tradeoffs

If you’re weighing whether Smartly is the right fit, these are the core tradeoffs to consider.

  • Smartly places greater emphasis on organization-wide flexibility and autonomy than on tightly standardized schedules and uniform work structures.

Smartly Employee Reviews

One thing that has really stood out to me since joining Smartly is the level of trust. There’s a strong focus on the work you do and the outcomes you deliver, without a culture of micromanagement. I’ve also really appreciated that work-life balance and wellbeing feel like more than just talking points here.


There are tangible resources to support employees’ wellbeing, alongside smaller things that genuinely make the workday better — like having lunch provided in the office from some great local restaurants (goodbye, fast-casual!).
 

Most importantly, I’ve found leadership to be genuinely considerate of the separation between our personal and professional lives. There’s an understanding that we’re people outside of work, and that flexibility and trust ultimately help us do better work. That is one of the things I value most about working at Smartly.

Employee Image
Francis Kinder, Senior Global Customer Success Manager
Francis Kinder, Senior Global Customer Success Manager

I was already interested in the company mission, but the deciding factor was the company’s refreshing view on work culture. The company fully supports its employee’s work-life balance and there are very frequent check-ins to ensure we’re not getting burnt out. You can immediately tell that the company believes that investing in its employees results in improved quality of work. The company’s hybrid culture is accompanied by mental health workshops, a nice work from home policy, and most importantly, a general trust in employees to get their work done regardless of working hours.

Senior Product Designer
Senior Product Designer

What People Are Saying About Smartly

  • Remote or Hybrid Flexibility: Hybrid and remote options, including short-term work-from-anywhere allowances, are emphasized and give people flexibility over where they work. This setup aims to blend focused home time with in‑person collaboration, supporting day‑to‑day balance.
  • Time Off Access: Generous PTO, wellness/recharge days, and a company‑wide holiday shutdown are highlighted as ways to provide real downtime. These practices create structured opportunities to disconnect and recover after busy cycles.
  • Autonomy Over Hours: Culture and careers materials stress trust, ownership, and working flexibly, allowing individuals discretion in how they structure their days. This autonomy can help people align work rhythms with personal needs.

Smartly's Benefits

Offers a flexible time off policy

Offers generous PTO

5 Weeks Per Year, plus OOO days and unlimited sick leave

Offers sabbatical leave

Sabbatical and study leaves are available in some countries 5-Year Anniversary Sabbatical Program

Offers unpaid extended leave

Procedures in place to ensure employees utilize PTO

Provides bereavement leave

Provides floating holidays

Provides paid holidays

Provides paid sick days

Provides sick leave

Provides wellness days

Recharge & Refresh Day annually plus a company wide holiday shut down

Utilizes company-wide vacation

Flexibility provided during personal challenges

Has employee-led culture committees

Managers trained on identifying and mitigating employee burnout

Offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Offers company-sponsored happy hours

Offers company-sponsored outings

Global, regional and team

Offers Employee Resource Groups

Offers fitness stipend

Health & Wellness benefit monthly

Offers team workouts

From yoga, to football to going to the gym

Offers wellness initiatives designed to combat burnout and mental fatigue

Offers wellness programs

Provides employees with ability to schedule focus-time blocks

Works with employees to create a sustainable work pace

Offers a remote work program

Utilizes a flexible work schedule

Utilizes a hybrid work model