Heartbeat Reviews

3.5

50% would recommend to a friend

(138 total reviews)
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Nadine Leonard and James Talerico

54% approve of CEO

52% positive business outlook

Heartbeat has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 138 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Heartbeat employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

138 reviews
2.0
4 May 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Genuine and authentic people in the company.

Cons

-12 to 14 hour workdays for months on end are common. There is zero work-life balance. -Even though Heartbeat is a part of Publicis, it still operates as a startup that does not know what it is doing, has no "heartbeat way of marketing or strategy development", and as a result there is no training or onboarding for new hires or clear standard for what good looks like. Managers are too overwhelmed by their own workload to support direct reports. -Salary and benefits are very low when compared to other agencies and corporate roles.

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Heartbeat Response
5y
Thank you for the feedback and the clear suggestions. As the Heartbeat community continues to grow in this now-familiar WFH world, we invest more time & attention to the on-boarding of new community members than ever before. From HR orientations to chats with Nadine & I, from Heartbeat 101 to our whole series of “Beat Basics,” we thought much more of a foundation for a smooth and comprehensive experience was in place. That said, clearly that sounds inconsistent with the experience you had, so we need to determine if it was the curriculum or your opportunity to participate in it that went awry — and your feedback is helpful in triggering that investigation, so thank you. Work-life balance is also a topic very dear to us. Although there are inevitable ebbs and flows to the work we do, we strongly and consistently urge our community to pay themselves back—or forward—to help reestablish balance. We will not support any situation where an out-of-balance issue is sustained indefinitely. In addition to responding to folks who vocalize such a situation, we work hard to proactively identify people who might be suffering silently — so we are especially troubled that neither approach was successful with you. We must do better. We hope you will find the right environment for your talents and find not only balance, but joy. - James and Nadine, Heartbeat Co-Presidents
2.0
28 Jul 2020

Wayyyyy too many long nights

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people and diverse culture

Cons

So many people work until 10, 11, midnight. The industry is like that, but this is the first and only agency I ever worked at where it was practically expected to work these hours all the time. And nobody seems to do anything about it, and it's not sustainable. My current agency is much better about work/life balance.

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Heartbeat Response
5y
Thank you for this feedback. It sounds like you were with us for a while, and we’re saddened that your overall perception was an expectation of exceptional workloads. That is not the case. It’s true that our industry is demanding, but 12-hour days should NOT be the norm for any of us. We’ve put considerable effort toward bettering our community’s work-life balance—it’s a topic we purposefully keep in the limelight to create a culture where people feel empowered to care for themselves, ask for help, and importantly, “pay themselves back” with Time Off whenever possible. To support this, we have instituted Summer Fridays, are encouraging everyone to liberally use their PTO, and are championing flexible and reduced schedules—something especially important when many are juggling additional responsibilities. We also know that it’s important to proactively manage day-to-day workloads in order to help everyone take advantage of the Time Off initiatives we’ve instituted and it’s up to us to do better. Making you feel like a cog in the production machine is the LAST thing we wanted. Although you’re no longer with us, we encourage you to reach out with any examples, concerns, or suggestions based on your experience—we’re always trying to improve. —Nadine and James, Heartbeat Co-Presidents
3.0
21 Feb 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are a lot of really good people here.

Cons

A lot of people have quit in recent months, and although some client difficulties are responsible, it's certain team members who are really responsible. Some of the production and book leads run things very badly but they talk a good game so they seem to skate by. Management seems to be unconcerned about the amount of turnover, the decreased morale and other negative developments.

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Heartbeat Response
6y
First, thank you for the conviction behind your input and for the clear concern you have both for the culture and the folks who sit next to you. We share that same concern and can’t tell you how much it hurts to think anyone in our community would believe that losing an employee is something we take lightly. We recognize (and try to celebrate) that people want different experiences than what we can offer. But that doesn’t make us any less bummed. And as we grow, we rely on folks like yourself to raise flags, point out blind spots, and bring solutions to the table. Simply put, can’t fix what we don’t know is broken… And we can’t do it alone. So we ask you – with a shared urgency – to please come to anyone in leadership or HR to discuss this issue more in depth and work with us to do better. Sincerely, Nadine and James — Co-Presidents, Heartbeat
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Glassdoor has 160 Heartbeat reviews submitted anonymously by Heartbeat employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Heartbeat is right for you.