Would give zero stars if possible - Anonymous employee HighWire Employee Review
1.0
Mar 10, 2016
Anonymous employee
Former employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
The pros are all in the past. As a long time employee, this used to be an amazing place to work. After the split from Stanford and the sale to a private equity firm, it has gone downhill fast. It's all about turning a profit (HighWire used to be non profit and it's publishers are non-profit....) and outsourcing. If the end of quarter numbers are in the red - and they always are - expect several people to lose their jobs. This happens over and over. Moral is low and new management knows nothing of publishing. Large publishers are defecting to the competition.
Cons
Poor morale, long hours, unclear mission and goals, loss of company culture, loss of historical knowledge
HighWire Response
9y
Thanks for your review. We are committed to providing a transparent, collaborative environment for all of our employees as we continue to grow the business and your feedback is greatly appreciated. Best of luck to you!
Explore other reviews about HighWire
5.0
Aug 8, 2019
Anonymous employee
Current employee, more than 3 years
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
The company is pursuing an exciting innovation path. We have been leading from a platform innovation perspective and are now pushing into some very exciting innovations for the next few years.
Cons
Get the message out louder....we are doing some exciting things for the publishing community and our innovative capability is exciting.
3.0
Jun 9, 2014
Anonymous employee
Current employee, more than 10 years
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
HighWire Press always was and still is a fairly typical Silicon Valley tech sweatshop, better than some, worse than others. What set it apart was that it was a non-profit which was a department of Stanford. It was great to be part of a world-class academic institution and Stanford had phenomenal benefits. HighWire also hired many extraordinarily smart people. While always chaotic, there was an all-for-one attitude for many years.
Cons
New executive management was brought in 3 years ago who executed brutal layoffs and constantly changed their strategy. Many of the best people were either layed off or quit when the managerial culture became so toxic. Workloads became enormous and people squabled to get get work off of their plate and onto somebody else's. Much of the work was off-shored to India with very mixed results. Things improved somewhat over the past year due to process improvements. The core technology is an antique, despite efforts to freshen it up around the edges. HighWire has recently been spun-off from Stanford as a privately held, for-profit corporation, so all of the benefits of being associated with Stanford have evaporated.
9
HighWire Response
9y
I apologize for the delay in responding however I thank you for your feedback. We have made many many positive changes over the last two years in the areas of focus, innovation and improved platform and core technology and will continue to take additional steps to improve. Should you have any further suggestions, I would be happy to meet with you any time to discuss.