Company intentionally exploits recent graduates and never takes accountability - Associate AlphaSights Employee Review

Truly do not know where to start. This company has skewed my entire perception of what working should be like. This is not a normal office. In the responses to these reviews, you'll see that AS likes to say they're not a normal "9-5 job". This is true; they are worse. And have been steadily getting worse in the past 6 months, as reflected in the decreased ratings over the past few months. Seriously- go look at the ratings over time chart on here. 1. Lack of accountability This is the absolute biggest flaw and is pervasive throughout the AlphaSights experience. While they preach to their associates that taking responsibility and adapting is important, they do neither. They are putting all of the blame on associates for not driving business volume during a recession while not acknowledging the fact that this business model is simply not doing well and that is not at all the responsibility of the associates. The "hurdle" for performance pay has increased even as the company has seen a drastic decrease in business, but during meetings, the associates are yelled at for not working hard enough. A huge part of being good at this job is being lucky with what projects you get, which experts respond, etc. While there are levers you can change, a big part is out of your control. AlphaSights management gaslights their associates into thinking that it is ALL under their control. Instead of changing their strategy, they have made it harder to get bonuses, made associates come in 4 days a week, lay off employees due to "performance issues" that are based on metrics that are skewed and incorrect....basically anything except for take responsibility that they are doing a horrible job. AlphaSight's big thing is that "oh it's not for everyone, you have to be driven, the long hours are because we are client first and we have a competitive pay package, blah blah blah" First of all, our clients are making way more money than we are- if we are working their same hours, why aren't we compensated like that? 80k base in New York City is not that high. It's a good salary for anywhere else for sure, but if you are going to say we have to work longer hours bc we work for finance clients, then our salaries should match the finance hours. Also, the insinuation that unhappy employees are just not performing well or not cut out for this line of work is stupid. These kids come from Ivy league schools- the work is not too difficult, 2. Lack of transparency: Every decision is made known to you last minute. Associates get no decision-making abilities or contributing opportunities. You are moved to different teams, different segments, made to train someone, all with sometimes less than a week's notice. Additionally, you are not allowed to talk about things that you are not happy about, contrary to what these comments are saying. "We encourage you to talk to your manager" is completely false. New joiners are being fired after 3or 6 months at integration now because they overhired and then told they can't talk about it because it's "unprofessional". Colleagues are moved between teams with a weeks notice and threatened by middle management with termination if they are unwilling. When VPs or managers misstep, these mistakes are buried and associates are not allowed to talk about them. 3. Lack of experience: Every single one of the managers has never managed anyone. You'll see in the responses below that they claim the internal elevation system is to give opportunities to superstar employees but this doesn't make sense. A good associate does not translate into a good manager. Also, there have been some horrible managers who were not great associates either. Elevations are based on an internal rating system but I know of at least 2 managers who definitely score lower than necessary and still were elevated. And before the AlphaSights account says that this is not true- it is. It happens. People just don't talk about it. Additionally, the training they provide is inadequate. New managers are overwhelmed, and thrown on difficult books and then yelled at for not doing well. My department didn't even have a mandatory DEI course for the managers until less than a year ago, after there was an incident of racial microaggressions by middle management. What you end up getting is a middle management that has no experience and cannot fathom the fact that they are bad at their jobs because they were commercially successful. Add in the fact that most went to elite universities (which is not the issue) and are generally very privileged and you get the most insufferable managers I have ever met. Also taking a step back- NONE of these managers or VPS or SVPS have ANY experience outside of AlphaSights. How in the hell would this ever work out? They make it seem like this is a good thing when in reality, this just means that everyone is in an echo chamber and has no real life experience. 4. Lack of basic human decency: There have been instances of literal VPs calling people things like "little Jewish girl," " the Asian one", etc. There have been managers who tell employees that they can't tell anyone if they quit but then tell the rest of the team behind their back and spread false rumours about their departure. Managers reprimand their associates on "professionalism" while they frequently gossip about their teams. TLDR: don't work here. Think of how bad a company must be to motivate stressed out 24 year olds to write a Glassdoor review. I debated even writing a review as I am very happy in my new position and didn't want to even give this company any more energy but I feel a responsibility to warn others. I genuinely regret recommending this company to anyone. Do not work here. The pay is not good enough, the snacks are just snacks, and if you work here now, you should leave. Every single person who has left has said they are happier.