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IDEO Reviews

3.8

75% would recommend to a friend

(259 total reviews)

Ratings by category

4.0

Culture & Values

3.8

Career Opportunities

3.7

Work/Life Balance

3.4

Diversity & Inclusion

3.3

Senior Management

3.1

Compensation and Benefits

Ratings distribution

5 stars

42%

4 stars

31%

3 stars

15%

2 stars

8%

1 star

5%

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Found 259 of over 315 reviews

Updated Nov 27, 2023

Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor

Pros
  • "Some great people are what make it worthwhile.(in 58 reviews)
  • "Offers designers a great culture and the chance to work on interesting challenges in a range of industries.(in 42 reviews)
  • "Great colleagues you'll want to hang out with on the weekends(in 12 reviews)
  • "Great work life balance.(in 9 reviews)
  • "Everyone is super nice(in 8 reviews)
Cons
  • "averse leadership, low tolerance to failure.(in 19 reviews)
  • "Low pay compared to other comparable roles(in 17 reviews)
  • "Salary feels low for Silicon Valley(in 11 reviews)
  • "cExtreme nepotism(in 5 reviews)
  • "If you are old(er), raising a family, and have outside experience to know your boundaries on how much work (and bad management) should impose(in 5 reviews)

Ratings by Demographics

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This rating reflects the overall rating of IDEO and is not affected by filters.

    1. 5.0
      Sep 28, 2023
      Senior Mechanical Engineer
      Former Employee, more than 5 years
      Palo Alto, CA
      Recommend
      CEO Approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I loved working at IDEO it was amazing! Best experience in the world

      Cons

      Sometimes the projects that I worked on didn't get made by clients in the end, but this is normal.

      1. 1.0
        Nov 27, 2023
        Data Science
        Former Employee, more than 5 years
        Recommend
        CEO Approval
        Business Outlook

        Pros

        the brand name lets it attract amazing people to work there still

        Cons

        the business model just doesn't work anymore and the company is constantly cycling through leadership and organizational structure changes.

      2. Join the IDEO team
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        1. 3.0
          Aug 28, 2023
          Associate Director
          Former Employee, more than 5 years
          Recommend
          CEO Approval
          Business Outlook

          Pros

          Smart, interesting people who are care about each other Opportunities to work on interesting projects If you're director+, some ability to manage your time and schedule Great benefits (lots of vacation, L&D budget) somewhat made up for lower pay

          Cons

          Failing business model (high cost relative to peers makes it hard to win work, especially given the commoditization of design, and organizational changes during the pandemic years made things worse) The website has the most interesting projects - don't think that all of them are about changing the world (most are not) Needs more rigor for the kinds of global challenges the org wants to take on Top leadership not accountable to business results or great at strategy Work driven by slack and too many meetings, can often be frantic (see Cal Newport's "hyperactive hive mind")

          3
          1. 3.0
            Oct 31, 2023
            Senior Designer
            Current Employee
            Recommend
            CEO Approval
            Business Outlook

            Pros

            unlimited vacation remote work benefits

            Cons

            low pay unstable business burnout lack of community not diverse

            2
            1. 5.0
              Sep 12, 2023
              Sr. Design Lead
              Former Employee, more than 10 years
              San Francisco, CA
              Recommend
              CEO Approval
              Business Outlook

              Pros

              Outstanding people to work with and extensive supportive network of current and former employees. Supportive of growth and stretching yourself. A lot of variety of domains if that’s what you want. IDEO experience is often a ticket to amazing opportunities to follow.

              Cons

              High cost means clients have high expectations. Often can’t follow through so work dies on the vine on client side. Need to promote yourself and build relationships with leaders or you will have trouble advancing. Leadership tries to do the right thing but can be chaotic and inconsistent.

              2
              1. 2.0
                Oct 4, 2023
                Senior Manager
                Former Employee, more than 8 years
                Chicago, IL
                Recommend
                CEO Approval
                Business Outlook

                Pros

                Was a great place to be autonomously creative

                Cons

                Constant layoffs of the last four years, many of which have not been discussed or made public

                5
                1. 4.0
                  Oct 8, 2023
                  Anonymous Employee
                  Former Employee, more than 3 years
                  Recommend
                  CEO Approval
                  Business Outlook

                  Pros

                  These people are the best, smartest, most exceptional people on planet earth

                  Cons

                  Designers don’t know operations. They fudged it for awhile but pandemic and post has exploited those cracks and left some pretty big gaping wounds.

                  2
                  1. 4.0
                    Sep 25, 2023
                    Design Lead
                    Former Employee, more than 3 years
                    San Francisco, CA
                    Recommend
                    CEO Approval
                    Business Outlook

                    Pros

                    Incredible colleagues Fun work culture

                    Cons

                    Tendency for employees to burnout Clients sometimes range from uninspiring to problematic

                    1
                    1. 3.0
                      Sep 28, 2023
                      Senior Design Lead
                      Former Employee
                      San Francisco, CA
                      Recommend
                      CEO Approval
                      Business Outlook

                      Pros

                      People, people, people. True asset of IDEO.

                      Cons

                      Leadership is too idealistic and disconnected with the real world.

                      1
                      1. 4.0
                        Sep 17, 2023
                        Industrial Designer
                        Former Employee, more than 3 years
                        California City, CA
                        Recommend
                        CEO Approval
                        Business Outlook

                        Pros

                        Flexibility in Time Management Collaboration with Intelligent Colleagues Diverse Range of Projects Opportunities for Learning Supportive boss

                        Cons

                        High Workload Limited Project Depth Lack of Transparency Independent Learning

                      Viewing 1 - 10 of 259 Reviews
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                      IDEO Reviews FAQs

                      IDEO has an overall rating of 3.8 out of 5, based on over 315 reviews left anonymously by employees. 75% of employees would recommend working at IDEO to a friend and 33% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -8% over the last 12 months.

                      According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, IDEO employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.1 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at IDEO. This rating has decreased by -10% over the last 12 months.

                      75% of IDEO employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated IDEO 3.7 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 3.8 for career opportunities.

                      According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at IDEO to be benefits, career development, culture and the cons to be diversity and inclusion, management, senior leadership.

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                      Glassdoor has 315 IDEO reviews submitted anonymously by IDEO employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if IDEO is right for you.