Whether you're an employee or a client, PARQA doesn't know what it does, and doesn't do what it says. There is no original "product" nor unique value--they simply try to profit by "helping" companies who can't run their own technology platforms, but PARQA isn't a tech company. But if you want a tech firm, they will tell you that they're a tech firm. And if you want a marketing agency, they will tell you that they're a marketing agency. It just depends on what they think you want them to be and what they can get you to pay them for. They will sell a lofty strategy and spew sales pitches written by AI, but they can't prove the value of anything they "deliver." They're like the wee organisms that feed off "whales" like Salesforce, Bullhorn (neither of which have actually hired them to do anything), etc. but they can't validate any of the value they advertise. Why does this matter to employees? Because working for a firm that doesn't live up to its promises means they won't keep their promises to employees either. They have just a few disjointed/remote team members left and the three new owners are not aligned, do not work well together, and have no clue how to build a business. But they have done an impressive job thus far of misguiding this one. Nobody at PARQA can back up their narrative with actual business results, and the company has lost money since it began. As a result, this sinking ship was recently sold off by Versique, a successful talent acquisition firm. PARQA had to ditch its office space and reduce the team by more than 60%. Yet they tout how much they've "grown" year over year, which is a lie. The reality is that it's been one very long failed experiment that's left a trail of survivors and detractors in its wake. As an employer, this place was among the very worst. Culture is toxic (and non-existent at this point, because most everyone who cared about healing the culture and actually knew how to do so is gone), unscrupulous leadership have created an "employer brand" that's known by former employees as one big bait-and-switch. Promises made are never kept. For instance, you will be offered a bonus payout based on company performance. They will tell you that this bonus is all but a guarantee, and even use it as a means to lowball your salary promising a quarterly payday to make up the difference, but the company doesn't make any money, so naturally, there is no bonus. "Unlimited" PTO comes with so many strings attached, it's laughable. You'll end up taking no time off for fear of being punished or fired if you do. "Leaders" disappear for months at a time for personal reasons, only to tell no one they've returned to work as they continue to casually dip in and out of the business--usually to cause chaos/misinformation and unconvincingly appear to look busy and/or important before they dip out again. Poor performance is tolerated and certain members of the clique are protected, usually those who are the easiest to manipulate and abuse, while those who work hard, care about quality, and have integrity and boundaries are gaslit, criticized, bullied, and labeled as "at risk." Those folks eventually either quit on the spot because they can't stand it anymore and their wellbeing is *actually* at risk, or they white-knuckle it until they're included in a wave of layoffs because the company has failed to reach its hilarious sales goals for yet another quarter. There is very little diversity and no intention to do any real DEIA work. The stated philosophy from the CEO is that they'll worry about DEIA once they're profitable, and there's no HR or internal comms expertise to do any of it well nor soon anyways. The one female owner is known for being threatened specifically by young, smart, talented women, and she sabotages their careers as a result. She relentlessly coddles mediocre, underperforming men (and keeps close the women who are too afraid to confront/challenge her). She's extremely concerned with "mean girls" and "popularity contests," but she promotes a culture of both. She creates psychological danger and then victimizes and martyrs herself. She and the other "leaders" hire a lot of cronies and misfit toys from past firms regardless of qualifications. But don't worry, they use and discard those folks, too. Everyone is disposable and replaceable. People who were included in this latest wave of layoffs literally never heard a word from their direct manager. No well-wishing, no gratitude, no empathy, no offer of recommendations nor support of any kind--nothing. Just ghosted. They "fired" more than half of their client roster because they were "mom and pops" and simply not worth PARQA's time (other than you know, being the thing that was sorta paying the bills) but had no "ideal" client business lined up. All of this was the idea of the EVP they brought in to save the day, but from all accounts, she's only helped run the place further into the ground. They say they use EOS, but only invoke its principles when they're trying to keep someone in their place or waste *everyone's* time with meaningless and confusing quarterly "Rock" projects. Then they then poke holes in those projects (that are never implemented anyways) so they don't have to pay you the small bonus that's tied to those. They review your performance every 90 days (OMFG) but make no investment in your career development nor wellbeing whatsoever. They constantly change the rules of the game to their advantage. The company recently had to get onto its own health plan and it was a nightmare with the CEO trying his hand (and failing) at benefits administration. He didn't successfully submit the team's health insurance enrollments, and then blamed the vendor for the error. With PARQA, it's always someone else's fault, and there's always an extenuating circumstance that excuses PARQA's leaders from any wrongdoing or responsibility. Whether you're a prospective team member or client, PARQA sells you a line to get you to sign onto either a strategic role they don't even understand nor need, or any number of their "solutions" with little to no reliable data to prove their efficacy. They'll guarantee results but they have no idea how to do most of what they're being paid to do. Once you've signed your SOW, they'll get busy trying to learn on the fly how to do what they told you they were "expert consultants" at. If this is your predicament currently, whether you're a client wondering what exactly you signed on for, or a "team" member regretting your life choices, I see you. You're going to get through this. I wish you good luck and Godspeed.
But the truth is that sadly, one after one, everyone realizes their mistake once they're entangled with PARQA.
