employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

PSB Insights

Part of WPP

Is this your company?

PSB Insights Reviews

3.4

63% would recommend to a friend

(181 total reviews)

Christopher Frank

66% approve of CEO

58% positive business outlook

PSB Insights has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 181 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The PSB Insights employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Management and consulting industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

181 reviews
1.0
24 Apr 2018

Worst Company Ever

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

At the analyst level, people really go out of their way to help one another. There’s often free pizza (because they don’t want anyone leaving for 2 minutes to grab lunch).

Cons

Working at PSB NY was the most stressful time in my life. Every project was treated like a national security threat - and any mistakes were seen as “end of world” catastrophes. We are doing market research, not solving world peace, For any mistakes that are made, the analyst alone will be blamed, no matter what. I often would work from 7/8 am to 10/11 at night - and would receive emails at all hours of the night (and was expected to respond promptly). This isn’t okay in any environment - but for the pay this kind of behavior is laughable. On the one vacation I took, I worked nearly every day, without a thank you or acknowledgement. Analysts are viewed as nothing more than machines that can plug in numbers and check numbers. There’s little thinking involved - and if you dare try to think, you’ll be shut down harshly and quickly by upper management. The New York office has horrible upper management. They are some of the most unprofessional people I’ve ever encountered. NY upper management is borderline abusive. They stomp around the office, slam doors, and have no problem bad mouthing employees to other employees. They have called people in the office “willfully stupid.” The turnover is incredibly high- it’s surprising if analysts make it past 1 year. It is sad to walk around the office and see how miserable fellow analysts are — it’s also disturbing how little management cares. These issues have all been raised to HR and have seemingly been ignored. From what I’ve heard, as long as New York brings in money, HR/corporate is fine with working their analysts to the point of mental breakdown.

avatar
PSB Insights Response
8y
We appreciate your feedback on many aspects of working in market research in the NY market. It’s highly competitive, and highly stressful, and we can appreciate your feeling this way. We understand that the work is intensive and appreciate everything our analysts do to keep our business thriving. We will take this into account as we move forward in the future.
1.0
27 June 2018

Old school research firm

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Had some smart ways to approach research design

Cons

They are stuck in the '90s. Very insular. Old boys club. It is hard for outsiders to get good clients, respect, resources, credit, pay - especially if a woman (forget about minorities)

1.0
17 Apr 2018

Never again

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get to do research in a variety of industries

Cons

Following the ratings options: Career Opportunities - nearly nonexistent. You really have 2 options here: 1) you can attempt to move laterally to another, most likely struggling/failing team; or 2) you can wait until someone more senior on your team burns out and leaves. Above both of these points, if management doesn't want you to move, they'll do anything to keep you where you are. I have been lied to by management about open positions, in order to keep me where I am. Compensation and Benefits - laughable. Far below industry standard across numerous departments. Promotions are given very rarely, and raises not at all (besides "market increases" that don't even match inflation). Performance reviews happened less and less frequently until they completely stopped. Either way, hard work won't get you anywhere: I've been told by upper management that the only incentive for exceeding performance expectations is pride. Work/Life Balance - variable. If you're on a client-facing team, expect late hours, sometimes weekends, and always high pressure. It seems like there is always something wrong with a project, and because different departments operate essentially in silos, there is very little understanding of how one department's tasks can affect those of other departments or teams. This results in missed targets, overlooked data, and--most embarrassingly-- angry clients. Senior Management - essentially bullies. Expect your emails to be ignored. Expect to be blamed for issues in projects you didn't have a hand in. When it comes to management, politics get you far, not hard work or skill. They want to seem like they're the good guys, so anything bad (lack of career or growth opportunities, bad work/life balance, poor in-office culture) is blamed on our parent company. Culture and Values - arguably the worst aspect. We recently went through a "rebranding" - really just a way to divorce the company from our founder. Nothing has really changed but our stationery and some of the faces in upper management. It is clear the rebranding is more about securing new business than changing how we operate. People with no experience come in and are not taught how to do the work; they get blamed for issues; they quickly burn out and search for greener pastures; and they are just as soon replaced by another eager fresh-out-of-college employee, where the cycle repeats.

avatar
PSB Insights Response
8y
Thank you for your feedback. We are appreciate your openness and will consider this as we evaluate the day-to-day responsibilities of our analysts and the way we assess the performance of our senior employees.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 181 Reviews

Glassdoor has 213 PSB Insights reviews submitted anonymously by PSB Insights employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if PSB Insights is right for you.