Pros
- Many of the client-facing employees at Next PR are extremely impressive PR pros. I'd happily work with the majority of the current employees again. - Before 2022ish, the culture was excellent - Unsure if these have changed but the company's benefits were impressive during my time. Benefits included free healthcare, Summer Fridays, day off to vote, winter break, etc.
Cons
The last few years have changed the entire reputation and culture of the company. Between raises and promotions being well below industry standard and a concerning amount of client cancellations, the company hasn't been healthy in terms of employee experience or revenue for a while. A major morale shift happened when the COO/CEO said on an all-company call there were no plans of layoffs, then proceeded to lay off staff just three weeks later with no explanation or empathy. For a company that touted being employee/people-first, layoffs were handled extremely insensitively. No questions asked, no forewarning, no consulting with direct managers to gauge performance before deciding, no correlation with the client accounts lost/the people laid off as is typical in professional services companies, etc. The company then had the audacity to pursue PR opportunities (bylines to publications/commentary) just months later about how to "handle layoffs right" which was extremely tone-deaf. The COO had no PR agency experience before her role, no HR experience, no financial leadership experience, and no communications experience, and it is increasingly evident as the agency suffers on several accounts. It's a nice story having the COO and CEO of a company be childhood best friends, but experience is important for business growth. It's not a coincidence the agency has struggled so much.
