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Forrester EMEA

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Vault’s Verdict

A firm with strong brand recognition thanks to its parent company, Forrester offers a relaxed work environment with little pressure and space for consultants to shape their own professional paths. Insiders describe a firm culture that is mature and adult-oriented, and where employees are treated with respect—even at a time when the potential for an economic downturn is occupying the thoughts of senior leadership.

Day to day, work-life balance seems to be a plus, while insiders are broadly satisfied with compensation, although several noted that the benefits package could be improved. Career development opportunities are abundant, with consistent and transparent promotions and support for internal transfers. The firm is highly collaborative and diverse, with initiatives for community engagement and diversity & inclusion. Overall, a good potential option for those seeking an opportunity within a boutique-sized outfit that comes with global name recognition.

Firm Culture

“A relaxed place to work, very little pressure, given space and support to find your own professional path.”

“If you love working with senior people in the biggest companies in the world and you love helping people be successful, you have a home at Forrester.”

“People at my firm are always treated with respect and put in the condition to shape their own destiny.”

“Really excellent culture - very mature & adult. There is no clockwatching or people breathing down your neck.” 

“The opportunity to do objectively interesting work while maintaining great work-life balance.”

Quality of Life

“I can have at Forrester a good quality life. I can follow my objective, work to live not live to work. Travel was quite often before the pandemic, now rare and we have an anywhere work policy.”

“Flexible working from home policy. Mandatory to come in once a month which in my opinion is very good.”

“No one checks on you - you need to be able to work independently and organise your work yourself.”

“The work life balance is probably the saving grace of Forrester. You are very free to work at your own pace which means there is a lot less stress to doing very basic admin and tasks.”

“You can be a homeworker if you wish (and you get a dedicated package, including internet connection, reimbursements for office equipment, etc.) or an office worker. In both cases, you can go to the office at your own convenience. Time off is managed very transparently and effortlessly by you and your manager. You get to travel as much as you want or as little as you want - the team leaves you free to decide based on customer preferences. It's not mandatory to do onsite deliveries.”

Compensation

“Overall, very good, it can always be better.”

“Poor benefits package. No transparency around salaries.”

“Quarterly bonus plus annual bonus depending on how the entire company performs.”

“Salary progression is great - you do notice the difference in your paycheck when you get promoted. The worst... of course you could be paid more.”

Career Development

“Best: promotions are consistent and transparent (you know what you have to do to get promoted; and if you do, you do get promoted); plenty of opportunities to develop your talent as the team is fully opened to cross-pollinate with other teams as well as to give each and every member the opportunity to get involved in any project s/he wants, regardless already acquired experience; the team itself is already very diverse and wants to continue to nurture its diversity as it considers it one of its main assets (one of our team members runs the diversity program for the whole company).”

“Highly collaborative and diverse, the biggest challenge is delivering to the broad coverage areas. You are constantly in learning mode.”

"I'm working for over 25 years and by far Forrester has been the best employer to develop my career. Managers are enablers, not bosses, they help the team to develop, which makes it so much easier.”

“Opportunities regularly posted to everyone, relatively open culture to internal moves.”

“Very high openness to and support for internal transfers: international transfers, and to other departments.”

Community Engagement

“The firm overall does a lot - and our team is one of the main contributors with initiatives including sensibilization campaigns etc. Huge efforts in the last few years, they have really caught up and I have learnt a lot from these initiatives.”

“The company launched a D&I network in 2020. That standalone fact is a monument to how absolutely ridiculous D&I is at this firm. Moreover, the headquarters are imposing very american views on D&I to the rest of the company worldwide, so most of the decisions and schemes are obtuse, awkward, and meaningless for anyone who has ever set foot outside of a US state.”

“There are some teams that are still very male-dominant, especially at senior leadership. Being a very US-centric company (and Massachusetts-based), there is also very little racial diversity, especially in US offices (from middle management up).”

“We really embrace D&I, as managers we coach D&I as a working and personal practice.”

Business Outlook

“I don't feel like our firm's leadership have made any effort to look forward in the economy and anticipate anything at all.”

“Overall it looks fine, just general headwinds currently make for uncertainty.”

“The company needs to navigate the potential and always more probable recession looming over world economy so there will be challenges moving ahead. However this company managed to do well during the pandemic and the basis is strong so I am confident that it will succeed during recession times as well.”

“We are growing double digits every year, during the pandemic over 30% YoY. The challenge is how to keep the pace and mitigate the growing pains.”

Hiring Process

“An extremely open-minded, extremely willing to learn enthusiastic person who likes to risk responsibly and enjoys a vibrant environment.”

“Interview and callback processes are fairly efficient. I think the key trait(s) we look out for are curiosity and openness to learning.”

“Terrible at callback - often quite rude. Will leave candidates on waiting lists and then never get back to them with a decision.”

“We look for culture fit. Technical knowledge is easy to get at Forrester since we do research enabled consulting. It's a best in class place to learn.”

Interview Questions

“A typical exercise would be to put the candidate in a challenging situation (need to reply to a nasty customer email; need to do some desk research and prepare a presentation on a difficult techy topic; need to explain in simple terms CX etc.).”

“Collaboration, team work, high EQ, willingness to learn, data and analytics skills, narration and storytelling.”

“How do you like to work? How do you deal with someone who isn't agreeable? How would you deal with this scenario?”

“Multiple stages of interview with different people from within and outside of the department.”

“We use role-play as the final exercise and 360-degree interviews. When people start we are 99% sure they will fit the job, the culture and the company fits them.”

Forrester EMEA

61 Aldwych
London WC2B 4AE