Forrester Research Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

The people are really cool
Most of the time there was work to do
Just moved to a new location (Alewife) which is pretty nice
Young and good looking co workers
Management is easy going about time off and vacation

Cons

Sometimes work is slow
The commute to the new location (you have to walk through a dirt path)
Did not see a lot of potential for vertical movement

Advice to Senior Management

I cant really think of anything, but if I had to say one thing maybe it would be to provide more responsibility (harder tasks)

Pros

This is a great company to work for. The people are very smart and the work is very engaging. Senior management has a solid foundation and direction of where they would like to take the company.

Cons

I don't really have too many complaints about working at Forrester Research. I have had some stressful days due to workload but not because I didn't like where I was going to work.

Pros

* Exciting subjects to work on
* Flexibility

Cons

Unrealistic growth expectations of management
Overworked analysts

Pros

- Friendly, fun, intelligent group of people to work with
- Great name to have on your resume
- Work-Life balance recognized

Cons

- In a word: Cheap
- You'll be given all the excuses under the sun regarding "budget cycles" and why wage increases are indefinitely held off.
- When faced with prospect of losing talent vs. paying more to keep them, they lose the talent.

Advice to Senior Management

Our "recognition awards" ceremonies consist of about 1/5 non-sales awards, then the rest sales oriented awards. It makes the 'non-revenue generating" employees (and we are constantly reminded of that) feel unappreciated and hyper aware of the rift between the salesforce.

It's a well known fact that in order to make more money at Forrester, the only way is to leave and come back. Fix that.

Pros

The people will keep you here. It's a fantastic networking world and the opportunity to learn, both about a professional work environment and about technology, is exciting and fast-paced. It's also a fun place to work - people are constantly going out and organizing meet-ups and events - you are guaranteed to run into other Forrester people out and about around Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, etc. I still have many, many friends and contacts from the time I worked here. Also the management is great about investing in professional training. The onboarding system (a full week of orientation and training) is phenomenal - it's a well-oiled machine from an HR/benefits/legal perspective. I miss this competence in other organizations since. Overall, I WOULD recommend applying to, interviewing at and working at Forrester - it really allows you to go to many, many other organizations and is well-regarded. Also the people you meet here will stick with you for life, there are just such incredibly fun, smart and funny people here.

Cons

Once you're in at a certain level it's almost impossible to get more than 3% more per year. So make sure you like your starting salary. It can be full of politics. They can decide they don't want to promote you for baseless reasons. I would caution anyone that while you can work here for a year before you switch roles/are allowed to apply internally for other things, that your boss will have a large role in determining your ability to switch jobs and when you come in to Forrester, be sure you're in a position that allows for upward mobility. Also the whole work/life balance thing can be a bit wonky - Q4 is insane for sales and consulting alike. You can work from home when you want, however you will be working 8:00am-9:00pm some days because there is just such a volume of work. Also, unrelated, the move to Alewife from Kendall is stupid and a complete deterrent to people wanting to apply here.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't punish people unfairly if their manager has a chip on their shoulder for seemingly no reason. When an entire team complains to HR about a manager, it's probably the manager, not the individual members of the team. Also - dear god, Forrester does not pay competitive wages. This has to be the reason 90% of people leave. ..

Pros

- Fun, smart and creative people
- Good on-boarding

Cons

- Salary way too low for hours work. A chunk of your salary is done through quarterly incentive. If the company doesn't hit it's 'matrix' then no bonus is paid
- Job can often being very vague/overlapping with several groups
- Too much of your bonus is a matter of opinion instead of concrete facts
- Some people are very condescending
- Sometimes you wonder if people who are successful there ever have a moment of personal time

Advice to Senior Management

Try to get back the culture that made Forrester a place to work.

Pros

-Dynamic and challenging
-Freedom to research whatever it is that interests you
 -Flexibility to"ask for forgiveness rather than permission"
-Great managers
-Competitive pay and benefits

Cons

-Rigorous workload
-Can be very hectic at times

Advice to Senior Management

We need more opportunities to foster inter-department collaborations

Pros

Surrounded by brilliant people
Room to grow your career here
Opportunity for promotion
receive apprectiation for hard work
flexible when necessary

Cons

Competitive to get an interview with Forrester
Pay scale is less than competitors
Sales is extremely competitve
Tough competition with up for promotion

Advice to Senior Management

Appreciate employees and make the salaries up to speed with competitors
Provide plans earlier in the year so sales understands what they are up against

Pros

Quality of people
Reputation and influence with clients
Relaxed work atmosphere
Very intellectually stimulating work

Cons

Top management disconnected from rank-and-file
Small organization managed like a giant corporation
High level of politics
IT infrastructure from the '90s

Advice to Senior Management

Walk the talk and follow the advice analysts are giving to clients
Improve collaboration across teams with incentives
Develop a clear long-term strategy for growth
Go private

Pros

The people are fun and smart and it's a social place to work.
The benefits are excellent.
Management is pretty open.
Very good place for young people to start a career. Over 80% of employees are under 30

Cons

Carreer path is not good at all and no way to advance in sales.
If your in sales you dont get promotions and the pay is very low compaired to competitors.
Management is always looking to pay sales less commission each year and the only people that get stock are directors.
It's an old boys club and you get promoted if you know the right people.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want to reduce the turn over in sales then pay them better. Forrester pays less than most of their competitors. When writing research take your own dog food. Ie there is a great sales enablement practice but we don't take any of the advice at all. Worklife balance is very arbitrary and sales it treated like teenagers. If you give your employees a work life balance and flexibility they will want to work harder for you. Everyone who has been at certain length of time should given minimal stock option. You ask what would motivate your employees and tie them the true values of the company? Stock would help. Even a minimal amount.