Next PR reviews

The last few years have changed the entire reputation and culture of the company. Between raises and promotions being well below industry standard and a concerning amount of client cancellations, the company hasn't been healthy in terms of employee experience or revenue for a while. A major morale shift happened when the COO/CEO said on an all-company call there were no plans of layoffs, then proceeded to lay off staff just three weeks later with no explanation or empathy. For a company that touted being employee/people-first, layoffs were handled extremely insensitively. No questions asked, no forewarning, no consulting with direct managers to gauge performance before deciding, no correlation with the client accounts lost/the people laid off as is typical in professional services companies, etc. The company then had the audacity to pursue PR opportunities (bylines to publications/commentary) just months later about how to "handle layoffs right" which was extremely tone-deaf. The COO had no PR agency experience before her role, no HR experience, no financial leadership experience, and no communications experience, and it is increasingly evident as the agency suffers on several accounts. It's a nice story having the COO and CEO of a company be childhood best friends, but experience is important for business growth. It's not a coincidence the agency has struggled so much.

Because it is such a small agency, it's hard to get ahead if you have a different point of view and challenge the status quo. There are many Next PR "lifers" (employees that have only ever worked there since graduating college or for 10+ years) that pull the strings and ultimately make all the decisions. If one day they decide that your personality isn't a fit, you will be treated terribly until you decide to resign. I witnessed this happen to several employees during my tenure. They say they are very DEI-focused, but if you raise questions or concerns about any of the employees in leadership who have been at the company for a long time, they will at most get a slap on the wrist and you will have a target on your back. If you raise a valid concern that makes them uncomfortable to answer, they most always will respond with "what I'm hearing you say is..." and then twist and convolute your words so that it can fit their agenda and make you feel gaslit. I don't think this is an inclusive environment for anyone that doesn't fit their cookie cutter personalities or way of thinking. Many of my colleagues and I also lost faith in their business model and overall health of the business. For several years in a row, they handed out HUGE end of year gifts to employees, with the most extravagant one being an all inclusive trip to Mexico for all ~50 employees at the end of 2022. About a quarter of those employees ended up resigning within the next 3 months after the trip. Since returning from that trip, they have also been on a promotion and raise pause. They laid off client-facing employees after explicitly saying multiple times that they would never conduct layoffs, yet they keep around several employees who have elected to be non client-facing. It just seems like they spent any extra money they had very carelessly without anticipating or accounting for potential business challenges. The monthly business updates they shared consistently made no sense and their projections were consistently wrong. Many of their really great employees who they relied on to train new team members, lead client accounts and bring in new business have left following the less than hopeful business outlook.