Avantages
Before I tell my true and honest experience with Human Design, I want to note that if you scan the other reviews from years prior, past the many questionable 5-star reviews during the month of February, you will see that little has changed over the years. Sadly, the issues that were present before are still present today. The leading personalities have remained unchanged and their overarching control continues to lead the agency to the same outcomes despite efforts to hire those who can help in a positive way and therefore true and profound progress is still yet to be achieved. I realize the thoughts below are mine and while some may be subjective, it doesn’t seem by the other reviews that I am alone and if the company disputes these claims, despite some being facts, they need to know that these feelings and experiences are valid and should be heard. -As with most agencies in my experience, the best part is the people who work here. They are genuinely good and talented individuals. The core team aside from leadership and some management is solid and bands together to do truly amazing work despite the less than ideal circumstances they are given to do so. -However, for all the good qualities the employees have, the leadership is lacking. The energy from the top trickles through the agency in a way that can stifle and hinder the motivation and creativity of any well-intending human. -At times it appears Human is doing the 'human' thing by taking on non-profit or smaller clients, and I found myself hopeful that they did this for the right reasons and maybe they are to an extent but ultimately ego always wins out and their unrealistic promises often lead to internal spin, burnout and as evidenced by the most recent layoffs (see below), literal loss of workforce due to lack of finances or loss of accounts. -They do pay their employees decently in my experience, provide fair benefits, good office snacks and are working on creating a social culture now that they are mandating in-office days (which can be seen as a pro or a con depending who you ask).
Inconvénients
Layoffs -Most recently, they laid off roughly 17% of the workforce, of which 25% of those were hired within the last month, which shows they didn’t have accurate forecasting of their business trajectory when doing a recent hiring spree. -Those who were laid off with no cause were given no warning, no severance and no security whatsoever. -The manner in which these people were laid off was very cold and impersonal taking place in groups and with little to no showing from key leadership despite it being their responsibility to break this news. -The founders and partners showed little to no remorse or sympathy for these employees dismissing them as if they were never there, deactivating their accounts in minutes and providing them little to no opportunities to have closure with the work they had dedicated so much time to and to the coworkers they cared about. Business practices -The way they bring on new business is primarily driven by ego, the bottom line and image instead of their long-standing call to ‘move the human race forward’ or even just be ‘human’. Their external narrative tells one story but it doesn’t align with their internal messaging and practices. It seems like company leadership doesn't know who Human really is, what they value and who they want to be and that lack of clear direction creates internal issues and confusion. -Many of the projects are not scoped properly despite concerted internal efforts by many to improve these processes. Their SOWs are highly vague and rarely involve input from the teams that will actually be tasked with the work. This creates challenging timelines, sets nearly impossible expectations and ultimately puts strain on internal and client relationships while also likely causing the agency to be unprofitable (although I can’t speak directly to finances but the recent layoffs in themselves speak volumes). There is also little to no transparency about this process and most of it happens in a vacuum. -It feels like they are conducting business in their own self-interest above all else. Ultimately with this inconsistency at the top, the teams tasked with doing the work are not set up for success.