Skip to contentSkip to footer
      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Farsight Consulting

      Is this your company?

      Farsight Consulting Reviews

      4.5

      91% would recommend to a friend

      (47 total reviews)

      Charlotte Hurst

      93% approve of CEO

      81% positive business outlook

      Farsight Consulting has an employee rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on 47 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Farsight Consulting employee rating is 21% above average for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      47 reviews
      1.0
      2 Apr 2020

      I found the Management team very difficult.

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      - The team are generally very talented, supportive individuals. Outside of the leadership team, I enjoyed good times and received good peer support from many of my colleagues. - Most of the team don’t have to work unreasonable hours (though this isn’t always the case). - Some people work on good, interesting client projects. - If you’re in favour, you can climb very quickly.

      Cons

      While I worked at Farsight, there were numerous times that people were mistreated by the Senior Leaders. Often people left the company as a result of their dealings with them. It sometimes felt that if these one or two “powerful” people at the top decided that they didn’t like you, or you didn’t fit the exact mould of person that they wanted, they would make your life very difficult until you quit. The leadership team would say that they have “high standards” and sometimes have to make “tough decisions” but I don’t think that suffices. I never got the impression that the leadership team found it difficult to make brutal decisions. Often I felt they relished giving negative feedback for the sake of it, in the name of “development”. It felt like they would push hard to find anything that they could critique about people, just to put them down and make themselves feel more powerful and in control. It felt a little bit like they weren’t satisfied unless there was someone that they were bullying and attempting to drive out of the company. I also felt that the senior team were biased in how they viewed various team members. Often it felt to me that you were much more likely to succeed if you were a particular type of person - e.g. a confident, white male. It felt like “favoured” individuals would have much less trouble getting the better projects, being promoted more quickly and generally having an easier time. Though the vast majority of the people being promoted were very talented and deserving, it often felt as though if you weren’t in favour, you would be more likely to find life very difficult. The leadership team would claim that performance is the only thing that drives promotion decisions but I don’t feel that this was the case. For example, women rarely seemed to remain in the company for longer than a year (except the senior leaders themselves). I know that lots of people get along fine at Farsight but overall I would say it’s not worth the risk if you’re thinking about going to work there. Also, even if you are “favoured” I’d question whether you could work for and respect such kinds of people - I ultimately decided that I could not.

      avatar
      Farsight Consulting Response
      6y
      Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We’re sorry that you didn’t personally enjoy all aspects of your time at Farsight. It is true that sometimes the leadership team have to make decisions that aren’t easy. We don’t make these decisions lightly and we always consider our team, our clients, and the business when making decisions. We’d welcome anyone to come and talk to us about any decisions they may have not understood, we’d be happy to explain and go through things. On occasions we have needed to give some people honest and difficult feedback about their performance and behaviour, when this hasn’t been in line with the standards and expectations that we think are important as a company, or with client expectations . Sometimes people don’t take this sort of feedback very well. We know it can be hard to hear constructive feedback sometimes and we do our best to work with people to help them hear that feedback and take other people’s perspectives on board. We don’t love giving people feedback that (for example) clients have said their performance falls short of what’s required, or that their behaviour has impacted negatively on others but it’s very important to us that we treat our team fairly and consistently in this respect. And we do think it’s important to encourage our team to take other people’s perspectives alongside their own, even if that feedback can sometimes be challenging for people to hear. It would be unfair on the team if we didn’t help everyone meet the agreed performance standards and behaviours. We aim to treat everyone with equal respect at Farsight and not to have ‘favourites’. We have a number of measures in place for key processes like promotions to make sure they are fair and transparent and also take into account different personality types – e.g. we have a mixed panel who assess promotion applications against pre-set criteria that is made available to everyone who is interested in applying for promotion. This approach was designed by a mixed group of people and has been well received by the team. We do recognise that in general women are underrepresented in the consultancy and tech industries. We are actively addressing this in Farsight by building on our best practice recruitment activities in order to attract women, making enhancements to our maternity policy, and supporting and developing our strong female role models at Farsight. For anyone reading this who is considering working at Farsight, we would encourage you to come see for yourselves. Ask us anything and if we can’t answer to your satisfaction, then maybe we’re just not the right fit for each other – and that’s okay.
      1.0
      11 Mar 2020

      Look at the dates

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Met some amazing people and genuinely developed some great skills. My experiences at Farsight have served me well in my career since leaving, and Farsight was a good springboard.

      Cons

      Look at how many of these positive reviews were written on 21st - 23rd February 2018. Surprise surprise, that's when they figured out that they were getting dragged on glassdoor and instructed employees to leave positive reviews. That should tell you all you need to know about working here. Management are more concerned with appearances than actually listening to any of the feedback they're getting about how they treat their employees (particularly women) and making adjustments accordingly.

      avatar
      Farsight Consulting Response
      6y
      Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Listening to our team and the people that work with us is important to us and something we take very seriously, so thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We’re really pleased to hear we have managed to further your career and help you develop your skills. Developing and supporting our team is something we are very passionate about so it’s great to hear your positive feedback and recognition of that. It’s also great to hear that you met some amazing people at Farsight – we’d agree with you! We think our team are fantastic – we have a great bunch of bright and intelligent people who work very well together. We’re sorry to hear that you felt like management didn’t listen to feedback. We value and listen to all of our team, including our fantastic women. Within the company there are multiple routes that individual team members can use to provide feedback (both positive and negative) informally and formally, and we act quickly on things that are raised. Our door is always open so we’d be very happy for your or anyone to get in touch to discuss things directly, or to arrange a time to pop in and see us. Finally, you’ve mentioned the positive Glassdoor reviews we received in February. We do encourage the team to write about Farsight on Glassdoor (just as is recommended by Glassdoor themselves). Farsight is their company too. But it is the individual’s choice, and it’s up to individuals what they say. Obviously, if people have concerns or questions we would rather that they were raised internally first, so that we have an opportunity to discuss things and, if necessary, to put things right. It’s an important principle that Glassdoor is a place for jobseekers to receive honest opinions (and, if necessary, that companies have a right to respond). As part of our recruitment process, we have a similar approach and suggest that applicants spend some time chatting with the team without management to find out what things are really like. Thank you once again for your sharing your thoughts. We wish you all the best in the future.
      2.0
      8 Dec 2018

      Potentially Good Opportunities But Problematic Management Style

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      - I really liked the team at Farsight - they are a bunch of intelligent, ambitious and kind people whom I really enjoyed getting to know and interacting with. - If you are lucky, you might be able to work on some interesting projects (but that's not the case for everyone unfortunately). - The team are generally not expected to work outside of regular office hours.

      Cons

      - The quality of work is often low. Some projects, especially the "internal" ones, are uninspiring, repetitive, frustrating, and do not offer sufficient learning opportunities. Many of the internal projects also feel like "made-do" work that are menial and never come to fruition due to poor organisation, despite requiring hours and hours of work. - The management have a tendency to micromanage and criticise every single aspect of the team's work. Sometimes the criticisms are overbearing and unnecessary, and they tend to focus on minute details. It's all done in the name of "promoting growth" (and sometimes it does) but oftentimes the criticisms are delivered in a disrespectful, condescending and patronising way which only serve to lower one's self-esteem and cause anxiety, self-doubt, and frustration. In some cases the way some members of the management manage their team can even be characterised as borderline abusive. - Despite the above, the management don't hold themselves to the same standard and rarely, if ever, admit fault. Coupled with the small size of the company (and management), there is no practical way to launch any meaningful complaints against members of the management (and be dealt with fairly). - Promotions seem arbitrary and the process is opaque. Although there are certain criteria you are measured against, it all comes down to how well the management 'think' you are doing, which can be biased. Also note that all of the reviews here posted around February 2018 were written by the team upon the request of HR, and they were submitted after being reviewed and approved by HR. Although I do believe some of the reviews are genuine, I would still take it with a grain of salt.

      avatar
      Farsight Consulting Response
      7y
      Thank you for recognising some positives as well as highlighting some negative aspects of your experience at Farsight. Word count is limited here, but we have attempted to address all of the points you've raised in sufficient detail. I'm pleased that you enjoyed working with the team. We’re proud that we have a great bunch of bright and intelligent people who work well together and look after each other. We encourage everyone in the team to self-reflect on their own performance; as well as receiving feedback from their peers, clients, and other members of the team. We have very high standards and the team consistently receive great feedback about the quality of their work from our clients. Most people ask for specific examples with lots of detail as this makes it easier to understand things. I’m sorry if you felt that the way in which we provided feedback to you was unhelpful and caused you any anxiety or frustration. We do try to adapt our approach for each individual and we do continually check back with the team to make sure that feedback is helpful and they feel supported. Sometimes we must give difficult feedback when someone needs to improve; and sometimes we must do that multiple times if there are still things that need to be better. Our clients expect a lot from us; and we must deliver. Irrespective of that, if you had a negative experience then the management team and I would like to apologise; that would never be our intention. I don’t think it’s fair to use words like “borderline abusive”; we simply do not act like that. We are a people-focused organisation; everyone goes to great lengths to support each other; and above all we are decent, kind people. We have a dedicated Head of People who is impartial, very accessible and whose role is focused on the wellbeing of the team. We have multiple routes that people can use to provide feedback: personal coaches; a buddy system; an improvements wall (for suggestions about anything); an anonymous feedback form; and online channels to encourage the team to share and discuss their ideas. We also have a documented, transparent and fair complaints process. Any negative feedback is handled quickly, fairly and sensitively. I think you would have found this to be true if you had raised any concerns whilst you were with us. It’s not true to say that management don’t hold themselves to the same standard as the team. We are one team and everyone is treated the same. We know we’re not perfect or always right. We have a very open, flat structure and we encourage criticism across the company so that we can all learn together. We have changed the way the company works many times based on criticism and feedback from the team, and will no doubt continue to do so. Thank you for recognising that there are interesting projects across the company. The feedback from the team is that the quality and range of opportunities that they are offered is good. You don’t have a positive opinion of our Internal Projects. I don’t share your view. Internal projects provide the team with opportunities to contribute to the business – which many people enjoy and ask for. Many of the team are interested in running companies themselves in the future, and we want to support this ambition and give them early experience. There are always less “exciting” things that need to be done; and we believe it’s important that the team appreciate why these things are important. Internal projects include business development; recruitment; business strategy; bid-writing; coaching; designing and delivering training sessions; and building new software. These projects are interesting, varied and important. They can also be challenging and we do expect people to reach the same high standards when they work on these projects. Some projects explore things that we are thinking about doing. Not all of these are taken forward, and some take time to come to fruition – I can understand if this is where some of your frustration may have come from. It is not accurate to say that promotion decisions are opaque, arbitrary and based on how management “think” people are doing. We hold regular sessions with the team where we explain how to do a good job and get promoted (with measurable examples). Promotion decisions are not made by management in isolation. They are made by the group of people at the level to which a person is being considered for promotion. This ensures that decisions are fair and open and supports people who are being promoted. Finally, I’d like to address the claim that the reviews on Glassdoor are somehow manufactured. The team are smart, strong minded and principled and wouldn’t stand for that – and we wouldn’t ask them to. We encourage the team to write Glassdoor reviews, but it's the individual’s choice, and it’s up to them what they say. We do not pre-approve them. Thank you once again for your feedback and comments; we wish you well for the future.
      Viewing 1 - 3 of 47 Reviews
      Related searches: Farsight Consulting jobs | Farsight Consulting salaries | Farsight Consulting benefits | Farsight Consulting interviews
      ReviewsFarsight Consulting reviews

      Glassdoor has 48 Farsight Consulting reviews submitted anonymously by Farsight Consulting employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Farsight Consulting is right for you.