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      Hanover Research

      Engaged Employer

      Hanover Research reviews

      3.6

      66% would recommend to a friend

      (320 total reviews)
      avatar

      Wes Givens

      54% approve of CEO

      44% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Hanover Research has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 320 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Hanover Research employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management & Consulting industry (3.6 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      320 reviews
      2.0
      Aug 15, 2017

      Associate

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      If you're taking on a role at Hanover as a newly minted grad, the company offers a fairly decent work-life balance for entry-level positions. Most roles neatly fit into regular business hours (8-4 or 9-5), which gives you plenty of free time outside of work. If you tough it out on 30-40 k for the first couple of years, it is very likely that you'll be promoted and offered an opportunity to manage research teams in due course. Also, tenured staff can benefit from rapid company growth since the portfolio of client assignments keeps expanding.

      Cons

      Too many to consider staying at Hanover long-term. Entry-level research, strategy and business development roles are nothing more than repetitive and mind-numbing tasks that could easily be carried out by administrative assistants with high school degrees. As one of the other reviews pointed out, primary research is just window dressing for day-to-day cold calling and digging out confidential company information from Linkedin contacts over the phone. Granted, professional development opportunities are offered to all employees on a regular basis, but very few of these actually help you become a more effective employee. It is debatable whether - if at all - specific training opportunities translate to, say, higher weekly sales, better rapport with clients etc. Another pervasive issue that I couldn't help but notice is the lack of transparent performance ratings. Entry-level associates typically receive a set of scores for each specific project they work on. That said, certain assessment categories are overly vague and highly subjective, which makes it hard to tell how well you are doing compared to other employees in the same role. Because of this, it is not unusual to do exceptionally well in one project and completely fail in another one. On that note, your personal success in certain roles (such as primary research) might just be a matter of luck since it depends on how many people pick up the phone or express interest in market research. Even if you work at the company for several years, your professional success might essentially just boil down to how you come across on the phone. I have personally seen first-hand a couple of people getting fired/laid off (or magically disappearing) within the first couple of months, which calls your own job security into question. As for the overall company culture, the good ole boys frat ethos is alive and well - very few top-ranking employees are women or minorities, and it is astounding how slowly this is changing. Tight social cliques across virtually all practice areas make it difficult to get to know your co-workers better, since folks fall back on their alumni networks and rarely branch out to other teams. Although there is a whole slew of buzzwords floating around that suggest openness to employee feedback and participation, the firm structure appears to be fairly rigidly hierarchical - entry-level employees are basically cogs in the machine. Company turnover remains very high and this most certainly reflects badly on Hanover's reputation.

      avatar
      Hanover Research Response
      8y
      Thank you for your feedback. It is true that we ensure that entry-level employees are trained thoroughly, both for their own development and to ascertain that we are delivering high-quality product to our clients. This necessarily involves repetitions on tasks and projects. It is also true that primary research, by definition, is collecting information through a variety of different methods, including over the phone. We are very transparent about this expectation of the role during the hiring process, just as we are insistent that all our research processes meet the highest ethical standards. Regarding performance ratings: It is not at all unusual for entry-level employees to receive divergent ratings on different projects; it is part of the development process. We are quite proud of our training and performance management infrastructure, and I am sorry those didn’t meet your expectations. We have become one of the fastest growing market research firms in the country because we are very selective about hiring the best talent and giving them lots of opportunities to grow and develop. Our retention rates are better than the industry average, but occasionally – as happens in every firm – there is no longer a fit between the role and the employee. I can assure you, though, that no one “magically disappears”. If you take a look at the company’s leadership page, you will notice that 4 of the 10 people listed are women and/or people of color. There is always more work for us to do here, but we are very proud of the diversity in our workforce.
      1.0
      Jul 26, 2017

      DO NOT WORK HERE

      Director of sales
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Cool loft office space in Soho

      Cons

      They will change your comp plan multiple times during the year with no reasoning, they will not pay your commissions on time, ever, if at all. Management lies on a daily basis and spies on employees with secret video cameras. HR is incompetent, and should not be in their roles.

      avatar
      Hanover Research Response
      8y
      Thank you for sharing your experience. I am sorry to read that you left Hanover with a bad taste in your mouth. Our compensation plans do change depending on how viable a territory is as our goal is to ensure sales staff can sell deals and generate revenue for themselves and Hanover. Our payout dates do not change and we do not make exceptions with sticking to those payout dates. We have had some challenges with setting up the new office in New York, but have worked through these growing pains. As for spying and the secret video cameras - I know we have security cameras in that building to protect staff and property, but they are all visible to staff.
      1.0
      Jul 16, 2017

      Just no.

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      The coworkers are nice people.

      Cons

      There are many cons. I'll touch on a few. I'll say first, as a BDA, you are a cold caller. To me, this was made clear from the get-go (although that wasn't the case for everyone; some people weren't specifically told they would be cold calling). Because of the nature of your job, it can be a bit defeating to say the least. You'll spend your day making around 200 calls, often speaking with people who have zero interest in hearing what you have to say. People will yell at you, hang up on you, tell you what a horrible person you are, etc. I suppose that this isn't exactly shocking news, since it is cold calling, but it can definitely take a toll on you after a while. If you worked at an actual enjoyable company, I can imagine that this would be less of an issue; but that's not the case here. Another pitfall of the job is that your success is not a reflection of your effort. I noticed that others have commented on this on Glassdoor, and it's an important aspect to point out. Your success (or lack there of) is often out of your hands. Some associates will get placed into very accepting territories where people want to take meetings and are likely to answer their phones. Alternatively, other associates will be placed into territories where people simply do not answer their phones and are very unlikely to take meetings. You, as a BDA, have no say over which territory you're in. You could be in an "easier" one and make 6 meetings in a day, or be in a "tougher" one and make 4 in a week. Also, management will refuse to recognize this discrepancy (although it's crystal clear to everyone else). The culture in the New York office is also quite toxic. Management is awful. I can't tell you how many uncomfortable things I've heard while there (racist, sexist, and just plain rude remarks and behavior). Not to mention the culture of staying very late. It was common for associates to be at the office until 8 or 9 at night. There was almost a stigma of leaving the office before 6 in the evening. And of course, staying late does not guarantee success (see above about territories). Simply put, the environment in the NY office is toxic. I'm not the only one who thinks so, as within a few short months they lost nearly half of their employees. We were all sick of being in those soul-crushing surroundings with backwards and questionable methodologies. If you are considering accepting a job at Hanover, I would strongly recommend rethinking your decision.

      avatar
      Hanover Research Response
      8y
      Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to read that you walked away from your time at Hanover with a negative perception of the company and our New York office. Firstly, being in a cold calling role is challenging. We are upfront during the interview process and the job description for both our New York and Arlington locations is clear that this is a cold calling role. Territories can be challenging for associates and directors alike. Hanover's Strategy team is constantly reviewing data from the associates and directors to help us segment our territories more effectively and ensure success for sales teams. This does take time and is constantly shifting as the markets and industries respond to our outreach. I always recommend that associates take a more active role in this process by providing their managers with information from their calls that could assist with this segmentation and their success. I was disappointed to read that you describe the New York office culture as toxic as we have taken steps to make changes after two employees shared their concerns about inappropriate language and attitudes on display in the office. As soon as these concerns were brought to our attention, we required all of our New York staff at all levels to participate in Appropriate Workplace Behavior training that was hosted by a trainer in that office as well as required all employees to repeat their Anti-Sexual Harassment training. All employees are aware that strong action will be taken if any complaints resurface. No complaints have appeared since the initial retraining action took place. In an effort to reinforce Hanover's positive corporate culture, we've had CXOs from the Arlington office spend time almost each week in that office and hope that this proximity will encourage staff to share any concerns or feedback with us directly. We plan on continuing to invest in the New York office and build out the culture in that space. The office is only a year old but continued investments and engagement have already started showing positive improvements.
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      Glassdoor has 332 Hanover Research reviews submitted anonymously by Hanover Research employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Hanover Research is right for you.