Match Group CEO: Public performance reviews build ‘a culture of transparency’

Since Spencer Rascoff took over as Match Group CEO in early 2025, he has set about trying to revive its portfolio of dating apps, in part by winning back user trust and courting Gen Z. “Trust is the foundation of real connections, and we are committed to rebuilding it with urgency, accountability, and an unwavering focus on the user,” Rascoff said last March in a letter to employees sharing his vision. 

As part of that turnaround and effort to cultivate trust, Match Group—the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid—has also sought to revamp its internal culture over the last year, in the interest of imbuing the company with greater transparency. A few months into Rascoff’s tenure as CEO, the company also announced layoffs, which affected 13% of its workforce. 

In a LinkedIn post today detailing Match Group’s culture shift, Rascoff argued that transparency had been “critical” to the company’s transformation over the last year. “I’ve seen a noticeable shift: stronger collaboration, faster ideas sharing, and sharper execution,” he wrote. “It’s a sign to me that the culture of transparency has taken hold.”

Rascoff shared how, exactly, Match Group fostered that transparency, starting with giving employees a direct line to ask questions or provide feedback. 

Employees have the option of remaining anonymous or including their name and engaging in a back-and-forth with Rascoff if appropriate. “I read every single submission, and I respond to every message that comes in,” he wrote, adding, “If the sender includes their name, I follow up with that person directly, and many great conversations have been sparked in this way. If the sender chooses to remain anonymous, then I write up an answer and share it broadly with the company monthly.”

This feedback channel has prompted more than 300 messages and led to several changes at Match Group, including a shared GitHub repository for engineers across the company and a standing monthly meeting between Rascoff and the Gen Z employee resource group. Rascoff also claims to answer every question that is submitted prior to the company’s all-hands meetings.  

“Transparency only works if it goes both ways,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “You can’t expect people to speak up if you don’t show them it makes a difference.”

Rascoff has also taken the unusual step of not only asking for feedback but actually receiving feedback on his own performance in a public forum. Match Group’s head of talent management conducted his mid-year review in an all hands meeting last year, allowing employees to listen in on his performance evaluation and see the goals that would govern his priorities for the rest of 2025. In March, Rascoff also plans to share his 2025 self-assessment with the whole company.

It’s not yet clear whether Match Group’s overhaul will prove successful. But Rascoff claims the push for transparency has already moved the needle on company culture.

At Tinder, employee engagement has jumped by 10% over the last six months. And in Match Group’s annual employee survey, there was a 13% increase in the share of people who agreed with the statement that the executive team keeps them informed. 

“One year as CEO, what’s mattered most to me is creating the conditions where great people can thrive,” Rascoff told Fast Company. “When teams are trusted and aligned, they move faster and feel more connected to the work. Watching that happen has been deeply motivating for me, and it makes me excited about the progress we can continue to make from here.”

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