Rapid growth with zero guardrails for employees - Anonymous employee HARVEY Employee Review

1.0
May 6, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You’ll be surrounded by very smart, capable people and learn a lot quickly. Even when things are moving fast, most people are open to change and willing to adapt. The product is interesting and feels like it’s on the edge of something new. Some teams are especially collaborative and supportive, and the overall comp is solid for a startup.

Cons

The culture is toxic. It’s common for employees to check Slack just to see who’s been deactivated that day. There’s no structure for performance reviews, no space for growth conversations, and no genuine investment in employee development. You're either in or you're out. The people team came in far too little too late into a company of this size, operating like it has 20 people when it's well over 300. Hitting revenue targets is very much emphasized over the general wellbeing of employees. Engineering and product are under constant pressure to deliver at an unrealistic pace, driven entirely by short-term sales needs. The roadmap changes constantly, and there's little regard for long-term planning or team sustainability. GTM is prioritised while other departments are undervalued and often treated with unprofessional candor. From my experience, this is normal. There is no support for mental health or work-life balance. Burnout is brushed aside, and overwork is not only expected but normalised. Expect to see half the company online on Slack on a sunday working a full day. Leadership celebrates results but shows very little concern for the people delivering them. If you're hoping for career progression, stability, or even basic respect, look elsewhere. This is not a people-first company.

avatar
HARVEY Response
1y
Hi, sorry to hear of your experience with us. Since you left, we have 1) hired two senior leaders to oversee EPD and GTM respectively 2) done our first company wide in depth performance review cycle 3) shared more on our short and long term strategy. With all that said, I think we are still scaling up process and approach to reflect our growth so I have no doubt some of the themes you highlight we are still improving on. Thanks for the feedback, and hopefully current folks are already feeling meaningful progress from what the company was like during your tenure. -Katie

Explore other reviews about HARVEY

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I’ve really enjoyed working on Infrastructure and Platform at Harvey. Building AI infrastructure is challenging, fast-moving, and incredibly exciting. The scope and complexity of problems are much larger than what I’ve experienced at other companies, and there is a real opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Pros High ownership and scope: The scope of engineering work is exceptionally high, often exceeding what you would find at many AI labs. Engineers have the opportunity to own critical systems and solve impactful problems. Strong upside: If Harvey continues to execute well, there is significant financial upside from being part of a company at this stage. Pioneer in Legal AI: Harvey is helping define the Legal AI space, which makes the work both exciting and meaningful. Interesting technical problems: The infrastructure challenges are genuinely unique — building reliable, scalable systems around AI workloads is some of the most interesting work I’ve done. Approachable technical leadership: The technical leadership team is one of Harvey’s biggest strengths. They are highly approachable, technically strong, and consistently make time to help engineers. They are actively involved in solving problems, providing guidance, and creating an environment where engineers can do their best work.

Cons

Cons Competition from foundation model companies: The AI landscape moves extremely quickly, and there is always pressure from foundation model companies to move up the stack. Continued differentiation will be important. Infrastructure maturity: The infra stack is still maturing. Some systems have grown quickly and accumulated technical debt, leading to reliability challenges. The good news is that technical leadership recognizes this and is actively working to improve the foundations.

1
3.0
Jul 20, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Team is talented and competent across the board - Work-life balance can be strong, though it varies a lot by manager/team - High-trust environment day to day - Coworkers are generally kind and easy to work with

Cons

- A quiet but rapidly growing culture of bonding over shared frustration has taken hold among employees - awfully draining, and doesn't seem to be on leadership's radar - Large pay discrepancies across the same titles/roles - Leadership culture rewards a tight inner circle; promotions and flexibility are much easier to come by if you're in it - Outside that circle, policies are enforced rigidly with little room for exceptions - Minor issues are often escalated as make-or-break, keeping the team in a low-grade state of anxiety - Priorities shift quickly and without much warning - Highly ego-driven culture, which can make collaboration harder

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All