Forrester Research Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

good learning environment, interested and very intelligent people, lots of peers in the same age group, a good working atmosphere

Cons

really difficult to 'move up', salaries are low-ish, but not terrible.

Advice to Senior Management

a lot of smart young people join and leave because there's no where for them to go.

Pros

Great group of smart people that really focus on producing a high quality product for customers. Good opportunity to advance. Very friendly environment, but one that challenges everyone to carry their weight.

Cons

Business model and organization structure is too complicated. Siloed sales structure is not in the best interest of clients. Too many layers of management in research and delivery.

Advice to Senior Management

Simplify the organization and make your strategy reflect the client's desires and not Wall Street's. In the long run the business will grow faster and the stock will appreciate more.

Pros

-- Fast growing company with a lot of opportunities
-- Excellent people to work with
-- Very open culture
-- Entrepreneurial spirit
-- A place where you ask for forgiveness, not permission
-- Great promote from within mentality

Cons

-- Advancements can take longer than anticipated
-- Promote from within doesn't pay as well
-- Can still be a very political environment

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management needs to be less sales oriented and more in touch with the product teams (Consulting, FLB, and Research)

Pros

Good benefits, some interesting work, everyone is helpful and supportive

Cons

There is no real transition to analyst from RA. Compensation is terrible, you can't expect to hire smart, motivated people from good colleges for under $40k and expect to keep them.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix the starting salary and offer an analyst training program if you want to really develop good analysts

Pros

Great learning opportunities and chances for personal growth. The company gives a lot of responsibility (as an individual contributor, not as a manager) to young employees, making it a good place to start your career. The company focuses carefully on learning and growth.

Cons

The career path peters out after a while and salaries are bargain-basement for the level of effort required. Most employees intuitively see ways to improve management communication, management decisions and the internal technology environment, but recommendations and feedback fall on deaf ears. There are some truly useless internal positions and departments (though the people in them are generally competent) even as revenue-generating employees get laid off.

Advice to Senior Management

It's easy to tune out the feedback of a group as opinionated and vocal as analysts... so look to other departments and also junior employees in research to get an idea of the pulse of the populace. And find ways to appropriately compensate good employees before they get fed up and leave.

Pros

I was in research. I really enjoyed the work environment.

Cons

I left because I stopped learning new skills and because there wasn't anywhere else to go with my career. I didn't have much faith in management. The sales function at Forrester is overall pretty poor.

Advice to Senior Management

Some people have been promoted through the ranks a few too many times.

Pros

Very flexible work environment, smart people, always challenged, usually interesting clients, get to do a lot of different things, good benefits

Cons

Too much travel, lots of pressure to source consulting projects and deliver them. Written research sometimes takes a back seat.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on work-life balance. Shift the emphasis away from SU production, else you should be rewarding analysts at the same rate as management consultant

Pros

Brilliant Analyst community. Fun, energetic culture where sharing (at least within silo) is encouraged. Flexibility to carve out niche for the creative and ambitious.

Cons

Forrester is going through tough growing pains which are alienating the sales force and sending top analysts fleeing for greener pastures.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in talent from the start, rather than squeezing maximum productivity for below market value as they climb they advance. Remove senior leaders who haven't performed well in years

Pros

Forrester is a recognizable and respected brand to carry on your resume which helps when looking outside of Forrester for other jobs. You learn a great deal about various industries and work with senior level individuals. Your sales skills become quite acute as you are selling an intangible product at a high price point.

Cons

Very poor pay. Extremely inept Sales management that places a high value on "activity" and little on results. Favortism to sales employees who are "yes" men and don't ask questions. Promotions based on drivers other than performance. A sales compensation plan that does more to anger you than to motivate you. This plan has decreased the average Sale's reps salary over the past 3 years and is continuing to be tuned to further decrease sales pay while stock price and company earnings grow at 15%+ annualy.

A company that is run by "Analysts" or research intellectual types who have no appreciation for the sales team and treat them accordingly. Extremely restrictive shared services groups that hinder sales ability to perform rather than enhance it. Poor internal policing of sales rules which results in deals being taken from reps and awarded to other based on relationships and arcaic rules.

Saving the best for last, a money-back-guarantee that allows a client to void any sale you've made regardless of their satisfaction or client service. This results in a sales rep owing copious amounts of commision dollars back to Forrester through no fault of their own. This is the single highest factor in sales rep disatisfaction at Forrester and one of the key reasons why Forrester's best sales reps are abandoning ship faster than the Titanic.

Advice to Senior Management

Management (SPECIFICALLY THE EXECUTIVE TEAM) should read the con's and then do everything opposite. This would be a good start.

Pros

Easy going people, good level of transparency and great place to learn and build skills initially in your career.

Cons

Forrester has a Good Culture when you initially join however get ready to have a career stuck in a time freeze wit little to no opportunities for growth/advancement. you feel its all just about the analyst and there is little scope for others to play. While itas understandable as analyst are key to business it ends up creating a org. structure where employees cant grow.

Advice to Senior Management

Understanding the motivation of employees at a people level is important and not just making statements on Grand Plans...