"People matter" is only empty words now - Patent Attorney HGF Employee Review

"People matter"? This is no longer the case. What you'll find at HGF today is overbearing micromanagement that puts billing above everything else; without regard for what is in the client's best interest, without regard for quality, without regard to real-world constraints like hours in a day, and most of all without regard for the people actually doing the work. This is no longer a company that can honestly claim that "people matter". My former colleagues at all levels are leaving in droves, with many I speak to saying the only reason they haven't yet left is because they haven't found anywhere to leave to in the current market. Colleague resignations are met with a "congratulations" for those who've found freedom, shared relief that they have a way out, and usually followed by "do they have any more vacancies wherever you're going". I've witnessed colleagues leaving without a job lined up, because they're so desperate to escape the toxic environment that remains of the once-great HGF. I spoke, more than once, to colleagues and former colleagues in tears because of the increasingly aggressive management policies, left unable to withstand the relentless onslaught of new 'bill, bill, bill' pressures that now persistently overshadow evenings and weekends. The group heads now treat their team with contempt, not respect, and fee earners are seen as short-term billing machines rather than real people. The value that "people matter" is long gone, and management are starting to lose interest in even pretending. As fee earners leave the clients are starting to follow, and short-sighted group heads are turning to appalling anti-client behaviours in attempts to stop them being able to leave in a timely manner, all whilst increasing client bills to unreasonable levels. The inevitable decrease in quality, now noticed by clients, is being blamed on individual fee earners, as opposed to acknowledging the realities of a system where hugely increased hourly rates, unchanged cost-caps, and a ban on any write-offs could only ever result in lower quality output. Every new initiative and policy that is introduced is ill thought out, and only ever adds to the burden on fee earners, whilst at the same time the increased hourly rates further restrict the time available to do the work. Colleagues are exhausted, and the cracks are starting to show. All of this might be tolerable to some if the pay reflected the realities of work at HGF, but pay fails to even reflect the current average, let alone offer competitive renumeration for working in such a miserable, toxic, hostile atmosphere. The measly bonus scheme is merely an exercise in how many excuses management can come up with for paying out a significantly reduced amount each year. The hostile takeover by a small number of egotistical partners keeps order by ousting those responsible for any dissenting opinion from elsewhere in this shell of a partnership, where reasonable warnings of the dire situation this company is in are ignored in favour of blindly carrying on and pretending everything is okay. Staff who attempt to raise valid concerns are met with gaslighting, lies, and then an extra share of the worst work going around. The 'stick, not carrot' approach that the group heads use to manage their team is dismissed as 'business', when really it reflects the group head greed in finding any excuse to limit fair renumeration. The truth? Things aren't okay. At all. Things at HGF are not sustainable the way they are, and it only remains to be seen which part begins to collapse first. The trust between management and the staff has long since disappeared, and at this point may be nearly impossible to bring back.