Mediocre designers with biased managment - Interaction Designer Fjordnet Employee Review

1.0
Jan 9, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They ensure projects are lead through real design thinking processes. It's not just a wire-framing factory.

Cons

Blatant bias against female minorities. Since Accenture bought Fjord, they like to promote Accenture's diversity and "Best place to work for", however, Fjord does not follow in Accenture's lead. Any female of color in a leadership position came through from Accenture, not Fjord. If you look into Fjord's promotion of leaders you'll a sea of white men and women. I worked at Fjord for 3 years with no promotions...it was a hard pill to swallow when you agree to commute 2 hours each way for 2 months to be onsite for a client despite being pregnant with hopes of "proving" yourself only to be told that you still not good enough. During my maternity leave, I looked in Accenture's return to work process and wanted to request a flexible schedule or soft return back. Fjord completely denied any of these requests and gave me the cold shoulder. I was told to contact Accenture to see if they could help me upon which no one would return my calls or email. As a designer it was also the most disappointing work experience. People who thrive at Fjord do so not because they are knowledgeable and talented but just know how to play into office politics and become pets for leadership.

Explore other reviews about Fjordnet

5.0
Jan 14, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Welcoming and friendly team, good amount of responsibility, great feedback culture, flat hierarchies

Cons

Slightly increased bureaucracy and potential of conflict with other departments as part of Accenture Song

3.0
Jun 16, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Incredibly smart people. Great camaraderie. You will absolutely make friends working here. The company has a well-known name and good reputation. Some big name clients. Work-life balance was usually good, comparatively speaking. Compensation and benefits are good.

Cons

Lots of typical post-acquisition woes: Bottlenecks to getting answers to questions, supplies, etcetera. Degrading company culture. The pipeline of work is very disappointing. The work shown on the website and in the company videos is not the work actually being done in the studio–at least not in NYC. Instead of working on innovative client work, you work on a lot of website reskins for Accenture clients. You end up working on the same 2-3 clients, and can get entrenched on projects for long periods of time without the option to work on something else. Management, while well-intentioned, can be frustrating. There is open communication, and you're free to pull management aside whenever you need to, but problems are often met with "sorry you have to deal with this" instead of any potential solutions. There's a mass exodus of talent, which may contribute to this sort of attitude. It often felt like senior management was not listening to the concerns of the floor, and the transparent communication is one-sided. The overall mood in the office is generally downcast, frustrated, and fed up, leading to what can be a very depressing workplace.

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