If you're considering working at Hanover as a researcher, there are a few important things to know, most important of which is that your satisfaction is secondary. The culture is solely focused on getting clients to renew at all costs, which will require being asked to do an unrealistic amount of work in an unrealistic period of time, and often being told to conduct research using methods that are questionable, at best. And you're doing this while being paid below market value. If Hanover has determined that this is how the business needs to be conducted to be profitable, then fair enough. But there are other companies out there who have managed to prioritize their employees as a vital part of their success. Hanover just isn't one of them, which is why they struggle with retention and so many people are looking to leave.
I drafted what I wrote above a couple of days before posting it, and just saw the response from the Chief Content Officer in the previous review, so I'll add more. Saying that we 'never take any shortcuts as to research rigor' just isn't true, and there's no other way to put it. Everything is about getting things done as quickly as possible. When the culture is all about efficiency, you're inherently going to sacrifice rigor. It's common sense. As a researcher, you have very little interaction with superiors, and I've had no interaction with the Chief Content Officer and there's no other method to communicate this. So I'll just say, if you actually think it's true that shortcuts aren't taken, then go ahead and get feedback from your analysts and they can tell you the shortcuts they've had to take to get work done in the time allotted. Or actually audit some of the research yourself. Ask what steps were taken in a project to ensure that findings and insights are accurate and reliable. Know that this misrepresentation frustrates a lot of your current employees. Hanover is research done quickly at low cost (and there's nothing wrong with that, there's a market for it!). But if you're a fast food restaurant, don't pretend you're cooking in a gourmet kitchen. It's probably best not to know how the sausage gets made.
And about the padded reviews: there was a one star review on August 6 which was harsh, and the company responded on August 8. The very next day there are two 5 star reviews, and another on August 13. That's three 5 star reviews within a week of a one star review; prior to this, the previous two 5 star reviews were in May and March. Also, just look at the ratings trends. The overall rating went from a 3 to a 3.7 in about a year, and considering the quantity of ratings Hanover has, it takes A LOT of positive ratings to get the number to move that much in that period of time. And things haven't changed in the last year to warrant such an uptick in positive ratings. This isn't definitive proof, but if a company were to pad its reviews the evidence would probably look something like this.
