Do your research and know what you're getting into - Content Analyst Hanover Research Employee Review

The most glaring deficiency of Hanover as a company is its approach to management. Hanover has a heavy emphasis on merit-based advancement. Researchers who consistently exceed expectations earn promotions. It’s a great idea in theory, but Hanover tends to promote great researchers to management positions without any assessment of their managerial ability. The result is that research managers typically have little to no management experience and lack almost any of the basic skills required of effective managers. The qualities that make great researchers (attention to detail, ability to focus on one task for extended periods of time, research and writing ability, ability to work in solitude) have almost no overlap with the qualities that make great managers (interpersonal skills, empathy, long-term vision, ability to understand, motivate, and communicate with team members). In short, it’s likely that your manager will not have the experience or personality needed to be effective in that role. Do not expect to work for someone who will understand, respect, or truly lead you. Work at Hanover is also quite isolating. You receive a project once a week, are given a five-day timeline to complete it, and are expected to complete it without much interaction with other researchers. Managers tend to be unresponsive and unhelpful when asked for information or assistance. There’s no real infrastructure for researchers to share knowledge or expertise, either. Hanover is just not a collaborative place, and you’ll probably feel quite alone despite being in a room full of people. To be fair, Hanover seems to try to select people who are comfortable working in solitude. They administer personality tests and mention the isolating nature of the job in interviews. Just be aware that the solitude can be quite acute and depressing if you are more of a social person. The pressure of work at Hanover is high. Deadlines tend to be inflexible, managers are often inaccessible, and Hanover expects you to complete your project within the given time period regardless of the amount of time required to complete the project. This means you may regularly work 50+ hour weeks, especially when you are a new researcher. One perk is that you get free dinner if you work in the office past 7 PM. Hanover does not value its employees. It makes little secret of this, and there seems to be a tacit understanding of this among employees and company management. Plenty of people are comfortable coming into work, completing projects, earning a paycheck, and going home. But Hanover is by no means an employee-centered company. The company tends to be shady with major decisions that affect the lives of all its employees, providing little information to researchers and acting deceitfully in many cases. Company executives have repeatedly acknowledged being unwilling to invest in researchers or improve the research experience. Turnover is high and morale is low – ask to go to a happy hour with current employees and you will understand. This lack of respect for employees manifests itself in a pretty mediocre benefits package. The 401(k) takes years to vest, vacation time is limited and increases slowly, and there’s no bonus system for researchers. Basic health insurance is free, though.