Prince Harry’s role at mental health firm BetterUp is to ‘advocate for mental fitness’ and ‘guide the company’s social mission’.

The Duke of Sussex is also a vocal champion for its app, described as ‘life coach Tinder for millennials’, revealing that he used it to find his own ‘truly awesome’ mental health trainer when he joined in 2021 post-Megxit.But past and present employees suggest there is much work to be done after describing the US-based business as a ‘toxic train wreck’ and ‘psychologically unsafe place to work’ where ‘everyone is uncomfortable and living in fear’.

There are also choice words for BetterUp’s ‘elitist club of leaders’, who according to one worker ‘have no moral compass’ and ‘lack self awareness’.

And a company chief executive who used their services recently vowed never to use them again, claiming: ‘I had concerns about the confidentiality of my discussions and privacy during coaching calls with coaches’.

Another described the sales team as ‘predatory’. ‘I am glad I backed out because I read reviews by former employees and it didn’t look good and also highlighted the poor pay pressure to sell and lay offs and that they pay Prince Harry over a million dollars a year’, they said.

Since 2021 the Duke of Sussex has been working as ‘Chief Impact Officer’ at the US-based professional coaching and mental health app.

He has made regular appearances for the company on stage and on livestreams over the past three years, including last month with a former NBA star and friend of Kobe Bryant to discuss mental fitness and helping people ‘find their flow’.

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The Duke of Sussex has held the role of chief impact officer at the US coaching and mental health firm, BetterUp since 2021. Some claim it earn him $1million-a-year

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Harry’s job at BetterUp was one of the first he secured after emigrating with Meghan in 2020 after they quit as frontline royals and seek financial independence

Harry has also been a visitor to its buildings in San Francisco, California, and Austin in Texas, where staff have office dogs to pet, yoga studios, and armchairs to unwind in during their working day..

Despite these trappings, several employees, however, past and present have been critical via Glassdoor, which publishes company ratings and reviews by employees with the aim of increasing workplace transparency.

BetterUp has a 2.8 out of five stars rating on the site based on more than 600 reviews. Just 35% of people would recommend working there to a friend.

There are complaints about ‘too much ego at the top’ – and staff under pressure to hit targets.

The most recent review is 5-stars from five days ago, where an existing account manager says is a ‘great place to work’.

But in October a former employee called BetterUp a ‘literal circus’.

‘The company is a mess. Executive leadership is so detached from everyone else, engages in weird trips and spending, constantly shifts strategy and shuffles team functions.

‘As others have mentioned, there is a rampant favoritism with select employees being able to use the company as a open playground: sidestepping any process, being put into multiple VP roles across org functions regardless of qualification, escalating (often via text) to the founders the second they don’t get what they want, never being at risk of layoffs. This often results in one person being able to single-handedly derail an org-wide project at a company of 700+ people’.

In September one current employee called the firm a ‘toxic train wreck’. ‘You work your a** off but if you’re not in the inner circle, good luck to you’, they said.

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Less than glowing Glassdoor recent reviews by past and present employees of BetterUp

BetterUp is a place ‘where people dry up and shrivel’, one former account manager said in August,

‘I am not saying this figuratively. Literally every person at BetterUp hates their job’.

In the same month a current account manager said: ‘Their existence is based on lies, no moral compass and an elitist club of leaders (if you can even call them that) that lack self awareness’.

Another person who reviewed working for the company said: ‘It’s keep your head down… do your work, don’t get on someone’s bad side. No one will go to HR as HR is close to the leaders’.

‘Cult-like facade management out of touch. Toxicity. Everyone out for themselves High burn out’, another review reads.

MailOnline has asked BetterUp to comment.

The start-up’s co-founder and CEO Alexi Robichaux has repeatedly praised Harry, citing his ‘incredible attitude’ and claiming he has been ‘energised’ by Harry’s ‘model of inspiration and impact through action’.

The Prince has settled into his role at the company, which claims to use artificial intelligence to deliver personalised coaching sessions designed to nourish ‘the whole person’.

The company’s app – dubbed ‘life coaching Tinder for millennials’ – focuses on performance and wellbeing at work and is designed primarily for corporate use as an employee benefit.

BetterUp, founded in 2013, provides professional coaching, counselling and mentorship to your mobile phone, and is one of a handful of apps which promise to improve employee happiness, retention and – all importantly – productivity, through counselling and behavioural psychology.

Its co-founder and CEO Robichaux, a former Walt Disney employee and University of Southern California graduate, says he is on a mission to turn self-improvement into a science and ‘improve human existence’.

Its network of thousands of coaches serves a reported 100,000-plus members and offers coaching services to its own staff, including talks on ‘how to beat burnout’ and ‘build mental fitness’. There are sessions on ‘taking bold action for inclusive leadership’ and what to do if you want to ‘be you at your best’.

According to its own outcome surveys, its confidential, on-demand coaching sessions can reduce stress by 24 per cent. Some companies, says BetterUp, reported increases of performance of up to 26 per cent and a reduction in burnout of 15 per cent.

All of this comes at a hefty price for companies.

Corporate access to the app, including virtual classes and coaching sessions, reportedly costs around £2,600 per person for 12 months’ membership.

Harry himself has given the app his royal seal of approval, describing how he has found working with a ‘truly awesome coach’ to be ‘invaluable’.

He said his coach had given him ‘sound advice’ and ‘a fresh perspective’ and, explaining why he was joining BetterUp, added that ‘focusing on and prioritising our mental fitness unlocks potential and opportunity we never knew we had inside of us’.

The Duke of Sussex has held the role of chief impact officer at the US coaching and mental health firm,