Speck Design Reviews

3.6

69% would recommend to a friend

(20 total reviews)

Elisa Jagerson

69% approve of CEO

63% positive business outlook

Speck Design has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 20 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Speck Design employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

20 reviews
1.0
22 Sept 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Every creative agency has at least some creative people so that does not say much. We tend to skew older which means that our people have more than a few projects under their belt.

Cons

MANGEMENT and CULTURE. Wow. We seem to have a glassdoor flame war going on here but from a design and engineering perspective we seem to do project work for decent clients. We are not in the same league as the premier firms by any means. The company has been in business for 20 years but we have never been smaller. There are really about 14 people left (the website still has people that have left) which makes it hard to be taken seriously. It also makes it impossible to have any energy or vibrancy. It feels dead especially with two offices. Sometimes I am the only person in the office... DEAD. We have no awards of late and the company that purchased us has never designed product (they are a brand company). Our leadership is now down to just a CEO that has no design or product experience (as mentioned in many other reviews) and a BD executive that has never sold anything in the 1.5 years that he has been here. I hope things turn around but if you are looking for work here just know that we are in a bit of a stall.

2.0
21 June 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They seem to attract great clients, and somehow manage to deliver good work. Some projects can be very exciting and rewarding to work on.

Cons

The engineers and designers (ID) were great, but the management sucked. The one ME manager I dealt with was a data-hog who didn't know how to share and was eventually removed like a tumor on the company, sucking the fun of the company. But what can you say about a CEO who actually seeks guidance from a psychic (seriously!). It tends to shake your confidence in how she leads the company.

2.0
1 June 2015

Be cautious

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

This is a fairly small group despite the company's long history, which makes it easy to interact with others. Weekly company meeting allows employees to see every aspect of the company (ID, engineering, marketing, market research) which can be very interesting.

Cons

First issue: I was hired full-time but felt extremely undervalued. I truly believe the work assigned to me and the other interns could have been completed by any high schooler with very little industry experience. The consultancy is pressured to be as efficient as possible with its hours, but unfortunately it meant that I was no trusted with any significant and meaningful work. Easy solution: don't hire eight interns who are just given mind-numbing work that could be done by one person. Second issue: When I interviewed with Speck, I met with six engineers, but by the time I started five months later only two of them were left. And one of those engineers left two weeks after I started. During my time, three consultants were hired and subsequently let go/voluntarily left. For some reason, engineers don't seem to want and/or be able to stay at Speck. I think there is a lack of company culture and cohesion that would be expected of such a small-sized team. This is probably due to the constant flow of employees in and out of the company. Talk to the CEO when you interview with Speck. She is an amazing woman and business leader with great vision for the company. She is full of optimism and hope for Speck, which she continually shares at every weekly meeting. That being said, they're just not there yet. Maybe if they spent less time onboarding new employees, they could concentrate their efforts towards their vision.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 20 Reviews

Glassdoor has 24 Speck Design reviews submitted anonymously by Speck Design employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Speck Design is right for you.