Duarte Reviews

cult of personality (or cult of the lack thereof) leaves the company without any chance to succeed outside a complete deprogramming. turnover is so high, the show survivor would be jealous of the drama. the lord of the flies-like tension permeates your daily life. not very conducive to getting any actual work done. example: the current ceo once gave a long speech in front of the entire company about stepping down as ceo. She said that she needed to focus on other things and that she had found the perfect person to take the reigns. cut to one week later ... that perfect ceo has been fired by the ceo who just said she wasn’t the right fit for the job. not surprisingly, that same day she retook the helm. Understatement that these days didn’t build much confidence or morale. another example: Human Resources promotes the wonderful culture of inclusion and empathy. In reality, the department goes out of there way to sabotage anyone with a brain that could be considered a perceived threat to the ability to amass power. people are miserable at work, hide from the powers to be and anyone with any sort of inclination to tell truth to power is immediately squashed. If you are incompetent or lack the motivation to exceed expectations but often get jealous of the destructive politics and in-fighting depicted in house of cards or succession - this is the perfect company for you.

Top heavy unprofessional management and A LOT of finger pointing. Designers are undervalued, talked over, and provided little to no guidance. The culture is clicky, gossipy and they play favorites. The list goes on.. Too much hand holding because of the top heavy management. They coddle and suffocate you to keep themselves busy. Thanks, but I can work fine without you breathing on over my shoulder. If you are not on the right team you are doomed. Some managers don’t have time for you. Some managers should not be managers. Crucial conversations about career growth are glanced over, and professional growth at Duarte is a pipe dream. Getting promoted as a designer is next to impossible. You have to jump through hoops, and be in the in-crowd. They delude themselves into thinking everything they do is right, so valid complaints don’t register. If you’re not a favorite, you won’t grow and hear any number of different excuses as to why. A lot of kool aid drinking. If you're not in the “in-crowd familia,” you will suffer. If you cross someone in the in-crowd, it will backfire. They will find ways to give you less work and make you feel less valuable. You won’t be given work and they use your billable hours against you. They come across as intimidated by people who have skills other than presentation design. The organization is always in flux. They went through 2 different organization in the two years I worked there, and I had 2 different managers who didn’t know/care to actually manage me. The favoritism is out of control. Not all employees are treated equal. You have to be someone’s favorite or have the right manager to be able to do things like work from home. HR is nice but they don’t have the employee’s best interest at heart. They are paid to cater to the higher ups and the favorites. Issues don’t get resolved, and rather than try and fix things, they gaslight and talk you out of complaining as if it’s all in your head. They also don’t have time for you if you're not in the in-crowd. The best possible move for personal career growth was to no longer be at Duarte. Thank you for laying me off. The best possible move for personal career growth was to no longer be at Duarte. Thank you for laying me off.