Good Experience for the Resume, HR Nightmare - Account Executive Touchdown PR Employee Review

The company has really great synergy, which can go a long way in your day-to-day and long-term career... seriously. There's obvious/transparent growth potential with review cycles in the spring and fall. Healthy support from the executives down to middle management. GREAT co-workers. Hybrid work, or remote based on where you are (US HQ is in Austin; UK in Basingstoke). They train you really well on the ins and outs of PR, tech, and the business industry/markets at large. Very supportive of work-life balance (I've been slapped on the wrist a few times for working overtime). REALLY good PTO. There are 2-3 company-wide check-ins per week with weekly kickoffs, trivia, and company shoutouts, which makes the company feel close. Lots of opportunities to learn and attend outside media panels. The company now has a yearly wellbeing stipend. Overall, a great work experience and a great entry into PR!

The pay is pretty dismal, not going to lie... It could be worth it to cut your teeth and get into PR, but it's definitely not for the money. I know employees who have gotten second jobs and others who have sold their plasma to make ends meet... yikes. Definitely a low on diversity. There are also ebbs and flows with workload where you feel like there's nothing to do and then many times where you feel like there's way too much to do.

- You’ll learn a lot quickly and gain solid foundational PR experience. - Opportunity to build media relationships with well-known outlets. - A few genuinely kind and talented coworkers who try to support each other despite the culture.

Micromanagement is constant, and junior employees are overloaded with unrealistic expectations and impossible deadlines. The rules are inconsistent, favoritism is blatant, and speaking up about unfair treatment often backfires. Some managers are unprofessional, inappropriate, and clearly on power trips, while others are just stretched too thin to lead effectively. You can work late, deliver great results, and still feel like it’s never enough. The culture rewards compliance, not creativity, and it’s hard not to feel anxious every single day. What’s worse is the inconsistency, the same leaders who insist on office attendance often work fully remote themselves, many not even based in Texas. It’s frustrating to be required to sit in an empty office just to join Zoom calls all day when collaboration doesn’t actually happen in person. It is a culture of “do as I say, not as I do.” And when it comes to HR at Ruder Finn, (Touchdown’s parent company) things only get worse. Complaints aren’t handled seriously, responses are defensive and dismissive, and there’s a clear lack of empathy or accountability. The HR team treats people like liabilities, not humans. And if you don’t believe me, ask half the team who left within just a few months. That kind of turnover doesn’t happen in a healthy environment, it happens when people are burned out, underappreciated, and tired of the toxic culture. I genuinely believe I did everything I could to succeed here, but this environment makes that impossible. There are far better agencies out there that value balance, respect, and actual people-first culture, this is not one of them.