Helix reviews

3.8

68% would recommend to a friend

(118 total reviews)
avatar

James Lu

86% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Helix has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 118 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Helix employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

118 reviews
2.0
May 10, 2018

Employees are not a priority

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Set up for success. - Great support from investors. - Founders are passionate and want to see the company succeed. - Lots of smart people who care about the company.

Cons

- Executives do not listen to employees. Constantly tell them to "hold out" for things to be improved. - Perks awarded to employees that have social ties with the CEO. - Lack of transparency and employee happiness translates into waves of departures.

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Helix Response
8y
As Helix grows, we evolve our way of thinking with it, taking input from the numerous talented and diverse backgrounds we have here. Sometimes those voices are at the executive level, and sometimes they’re at the individual contributor level. Regardless, we evaluate all input in the context of how it impacts our people and our business. Employees are *the* priority, and to hear you think otherwise is a sign that we’ve fallen short. Without the stellar team of scientists, marketers, technologists and industry leaders we’ve assembled, the company wouldn’t be positioned to create a new consumer category from scratch. As with any company—large or small, implementing improvements can take time, and in some instances the rate at which these take place doesn’t suit every employees. We’re sorry if that is the case, but want to be clear that we make every effort to think about the impact each decision will have on each and everyone one of our colleagues. There are a lot of people who care about this company, and we make every effort to do right by the people who are committed to helping us achieve our vision. We’ve built a transparent culture where we share our product roadmap, pending partnerships, and business outcomes at our weekly company meeting. We want employees to have the information they need to be successful in their role, and that goes both ways—we want to hear more from you. Please chat with your manager, LT member, or People Ops. We want to work with you to make Helix great for every person on our team. - Selasi
1.0
Apr 30, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Exciting idea, talented founders team, unique approach to the market, substantial material and scientific support from the leading monopoly in the field; 300M+ in funding. What can go wrong?

Cons

Hiring incompetent, backstabbing, irresponsible executives. CTO and CEO have no idea and should have no part in running the scientific company of this scale and ambitions. Toxic culture in engineering and design; influence is measured by social distance from the CEO. I am pained to say that the founders, honest and hard-working as they are, are outmatched and overshadowed by "bad" and incompetent players. People, director and below, are honest, hard-working and love the mission, but completely overpowered.

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Helix Response
8y
One of our core values, “Bridge the Gap,” recognizes that our most significant challenges and opportunities lie at the intersection of disciplines. Success in this arena requires that individuals from disparate backgrounds such as clinical and consumer, marketing and engineering, and commercial and science co-mingle and feed off each other. It seems we can do a better job discussing our values and how they contribute to our success as a business. Unfortunately we also know that the cross-functional nature of our model doesn’t resonate with everyone. Cheers, James
5.0
Apr 9, 2018

Amazing potential.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This is an incredibly talented, smart and fun team to work with. Working in genomics is an honor, the opportunity to potentially improve people’s lives globally through new insights and products that our work enables, is hugely gratifying. It is said that fulfillment comes from working on problems that won’t be fully solved in your own lifetime - this is that kind of opportunity.

Cons

Building platforms is very challenging, and genomics is nascent space with much to learn - across the board. The science is rapidly evolving, the business model is a new one, and the products are not always easy to develop and market, in genomics. This is also what makes it fun - there’s no playbook and we are blazing a new trail. Perhaps not a con per se but these factors necessitate a gritty and resilient approach as there will be many challenges to overcome.

Viewing 70 - 72 of 118 Reviews

Glassdoor has 153 Helix reviews submitted anonymously by Helix employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Helix is right for you.