HMA Reviews

Thank you for your review and I'm sorry that you feel this way about your experience at HMA. We have invested a lot of time and energy in creating an environment that encourages people to thrive so whilst I'm glad to see that this has been acknowledged in the Pros you've listed, I'd like to address each Con you have listed individually: Overworked and underpaid - hours of work are 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri. As an agency, we sometimes have to work outside of these hours to meet deadlines but this is not an every day occurrence. Work is allocated based on our experience of what an individual should be expected to get through based on their experience. In respect of pay, graduate jobs are advertised in conjunction with local universities who advise on rates of pay based on national standards and we also regularly benchmark our salaries using data from salary surveys. Unwilling to help with mental health issues in relation to workplace stress - whenever a mental health problem has been raised both by past and present employees, we have done everything in our power to support that individual from time off to attend appointments, reduction in workload, flexible working or any other reasonable adjustments that have been requested. We have also arranged mental health first aider training for those that were interested in undertaking this. Zero induction of role-specific training - we take graduates through an academy process, covering subjects such as intellectual property, client communication, professional practice etc. Senior members of the team work closely with the graduates to ensure they are introduced to systems and processes. Where required, work is checked before sending to the client and constructive feedback provided. Time is allocated in schedules for online learning. As with many roles, there is a lot of learning on the job which we account for when looking at workloads and deadlines. Blame culture - our aim is to work collaboratively to overcome any problems but if deadlines are missed or communication isn't forthcoming then it is of course flagged as you would expect in any workplace. We have always been very clear about the different between responsibility and accountability - if someone is responsible for something then we expect that to be actioned but accountability remains with the senior team members. Unrealistic expectations of employees - the senior leadership team have all been through junior roles in agency so have lived experience of what is expected within that role and therefore context to align expectations with reality. We absolutely have high expectations to ensure we produce good quality work in line with our client's requirements. Where expectations are deemed by an individual to be unrealistic, we expect a good level of communication in advance of a deadline so that we can bring in extra resource to mitigate the risk of not achieving project goals. Expected to work 24/7 365 - as per my comment above, we absolutely do not expect people to work 24/7. The managing director is HR (conflict of interest) - It is not uncommon in any small business for the managing director to wear multiple hats. With regards to HR, we have an ongoing contract with HR specialists Croner who support on all HR-related matters and were consulted throughout this process.