Public ethos not lived internally - Anonymous employee LHH Employee Review

2.0
Mar 23, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- High degree of autonomy. You’re trusted to shape your work, approach, and client relationships. - Flexibility and remote working. The ability to work from anywhere is a genuine advantage and supports a modern way of operating. - Meaningful client impact. The work itself has real value, and clients often benefit significantly from the expertise and solutions delivered. - Competitive benefits package. The overall benefits offering is strong and compares well within the industry. - Relationships on the ground with peers is supportive, enabling and close-knit

Cons

- External thought leadership isn’t reflected internally. The organisation promotes progressive ideas publicly but does not model these practices within its own culture or ways of working. - Sales-first culture at the expense of people. Decisions consistently prioritise commercial targets over employee wellbeing, development, and sustainable delivery. - Work–life balance is extremely poor. Burnout is widespread and, even when raised, is minimised or left unaddressed. Expectations are often unrealistic and unsustainable. - Client delivery risk due to single‑point dependency. Key accounts are held by one or two individuals with no meaningful team structure or contingency. When those individuals take leave, clients are exposed and internal pressure escalates. - Low psychological safety. Leadership appears unaware of their role in shaping a healthy culture, and difficult issues are often avoided rather than addressed. - Significant gap between espoused values and lived behaviours. Leadership frequently says the right things publicly (e.g. LinkedIn) but act internally in ways that contradict the stated values, which erodes trust, respect and compassion. - Toxic leadership behaviours go unchallenged. Individuals who display harmful, volatile or micromanaging behaviours are often rewarded or protected, creating a culture where issues are normalised rather than resolved. - Employees who surface issues are frequently ignored, sidelined, or subtly labelled as “the problem,” which creates a culture of silence rather than learning or improvement. - Hierarchical - Decision‑making is concentrated at the top, with limited genuine empowerment which stifles innovation and honest dialogue. - Weak internal change management capability. Despite advising clients on change, internal changes are poorly planned, poorly communicated, and inconsistently executed. - Redeployment is treated as a client-facing narrative, not an internal practice. When redundancies occur, there is little genuine effort to explore meaningful redeployment options for affected employees. - Organisational tenure is often used as a proxy for expertise. Long service is frequently positioned as deep capability, even in areas that have been underinvested in or lack genuine experience or are net new to the business. This creates gaps in quality, decision‑making, and credibility.

Explore other reviews about LHH

5.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Good compensation Lots of jobs to work on

Cons

A lot of leadership changes and compensation changes

1.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The team was one of the strongest aspects of the organization, with many supportive and hardworking colleagues. PTO and time-off benefits were competitive, including occasional early-release days and additional time-off opportunities throughout the year.

Cons

The company culture has significantly declined in recent years, leading to lower employee morale and engagement. Micromanagement became increasingly common, while transparency and trust diminished. Although remote work was heavily promoted, there has been a shift toward a hybrid/in-office model. Office conditions often created challenges, including recurring maintenance issues and an open floor plan that made it difficult to focus and conduct private conversations or meetings. Compensation has not remained competitive with market expectations, making it increasingly difficult for employees to achieve strong earnings. Comparable staffing firms in the industry often offer higher compensation while providing similar benefits and time-off programs. As a result, retaining experienced recruiters and top performers has become increasingly challenging. Work-life balance also suffered due to the pressure of meeting KPIs and performance metrics, often requiring work outside of normal business hours to remain competitive and meet expectations. Employee engagement initiatives and team-building activities that once contributed to a positive environment have largely disappeared. There has also been noticeable turnover among tenured employees and top performers, raising concerns about retention and overall organizational direction.

4
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