Lambert Reviews

TL, DR: Lambert suffers from a ‘cult of personality’ built on its namesake CEO. The ‘Leadership Team’ is a misnomer -- they are a management team. If you have an idea, management must bless it/influence it. Meritocracy is non-existent. There is no diversity in the management team. (all White males). Transparency is non-existent. Trust amongst employees is not afforded. Management sets the tone, yet is surprised when employees reply in kind. Excellence is found only in the dictionary on the office shelves. Multi-office consistency is non-existent; unless you’re counting video conferencing. Your PR skills will not ‘level-up’, as you will not learn the skills needed for your next job. Onboarding is baptism by fire. Collaboration is not standard. Entry-level pros focus on media cold calls and list-building. Mid-level PR pro’s skills will ‘die on the vine’. Senior PR pros will be stupefied at the simplistic, regressive nature of the work. All roles are generalists, whether or not they admit it. Six weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Paternity leave, what’s that? Your 401k will not be matched. Your benefits won’t reflect the future of work. Your pay does not represent current industry market rates (per PRSA 2017 salary survey). Management will even ‘spin’ internal conflict. Advice to PR pros contemplating a job offer: pay attention to the reviews here. They reflect limited writing and communication skills, and yet, this is a strategic communication firm. If current and former employees can't articulate their experience, it means either one of three things: they don't have the skillset, they are too traumatized to rehash it, or they don’t care. If you’re focused on building your PR prowess, seek out a progressive organization that is planning for the future, respects you as a professional, and recognizes the value that you provide. (There is a reason why the recommendations for the workplace and CEO are 50/50. You should demand higher odds for your career.) ------ #1 - Lack of industry professionalism: Lambert is a 20-year-old company that only recently implemented formal HR processes and team members. The new talent & culture lead was in and out in the same calendar year. This may seem small, but it’s demonstrative of the employee not being viewed as a key stakeholder. Colleagues are not collegial. Turnover is high. Roles are loosely defined. New team members are often left to fend for themselves. “Fast-paced” environment really means unstructured, unorganized, and undisciplined. Processes and procedures are reactive. Pitches overpromise on capabilities and clients receive subpar performance disguised by flashy graphics. Account teams are filled with recent college grads and leaders who lead from a place of scarcity. Work is often disseminated by managers day of; with no expectation of triage. Deliverables are often executed last minute, interrupting evenings and weekends. Professional development is encouraged on paper, but not in practice. Crying at work is seen as a ‘right of passage.’ Management (and clients) yells, dismiss feedback, and threatens ‘do as you're told.’ Newer clients are on retainer but the office still operates with billable hours. (Staff enters time and clients are expensed for copier paper.) Any professional experience gained will be because of plum client assignment or a singular, caring manager. #2 - Lack of professional ethics and integrity Lambert’s culture is toxic at its core - consisting of subtle racism, and outright sexism & misogyny. Rules and regulations are parsed with favoritism towards Alpha men. The culture openly promotes drinking -- during and after hours -- to the harm of young, impressionable employees. If you’re not the ‘clique’, you are ostracized and marginalized. This is a deleterious work environment for people of color, LGBTQIA, differently-abled, parents, and young women. Lambert manages its own PR optics very well, managing to publicly hide its massive shortcomings and flaws. Only growth and expansion will elucidate. If you speak up, you should not expect confidences. If you speak out, you will be targeted. When you get tired of speaking, you will leave. Don't take my word for it. Ask the most recent 'partner' that walked out in less than 3 years' time.

LEAdership across each practice group is lacking. It feels as though the managing directors are clueless about the long-term strategy of the company, which causes uncertainty among the rank and file. There is little to no push back on the whims of the President, which also incubates several situations of blatant sexual harassment on a regular basis.