Toxic leadership and limited upward mobility - Specialist Influential Employee Review

1.0
3 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Depending on which pod you're placed in, you'll have the opportunity to work with clients who look amazing on your resume.

Cons

First, the pay is horrible. Second, leadership culture is a major challenge at this company. There is a disconnect between what managers communicate and how decisions are ultimately made at the senior level. In my case, I was told multiple times by my direct managers that I was ready for promotion, but the promotion was declined by senior leadership based on one SVP's internal belief that employees should only receive a limited number of promotions IN A LIFETIME, regardless of individual performance or readiness. There is also a lack of stability in role ownership. During the restructuring, employees were moved across teams and industries without their input or consent, which can completely change career trajectories and make it difficult to build expertise. I experienced this firsthand, having to pivot into a completely different industry without prior discussion. Moreover, the communication skills at this company are awful. Leaders are passive-aggressive, distrustful, and the stories you hear are appalling. Overall, the environment can feel unpredictable and is super discouraging for high performers who are looking for clear growth paths and mentorship.

Explore other reviews about Influential

5.0
26 Sept 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great leadership and coworkers. Exciting client work.

Cons

Honestly, nothing glaring. Typically start up kinks to work out, but well organized and managed.

1
1.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

None, so I’ll just list the obvious reasons that everyone wants to quit: terrible pay, out of touch leadership, no work-life balance, lack of support, and the company has an embarrassing reputation to be associated with in the industry when looking for new jobs. They froze promotions and salary raises indefinitely while instead handing out “growth opportunities” - basically giving everyone more work with no monetary gain or title increase, and the best part is, you can’t say no.

Cons

Ever since the merger with Publicis (and even worse with Captiv8) this company has lost all aspects that once drew me to work there. Wages are low. Campaigns are uninspired. Internal teams are stressed, making it difficult to work collaboratively. The organization is top-heavy, with too many “thought leaders” making inefficient choices and not enough people to actually get the work done. The turnover is unbelievable. Everything at Influential is “urgent” besides your growth within the company. They favor employees that play into corporate politics with the sales team/C-suite, making all of the decision makers the types of people in school that would take credit for your work in a group project but immediately blame you for any mistakes. Now let’s get into upper leadership - I’ve heard they used to have some semblance of a clue about what went on within the company, but now they’re too busy spending an obscene amount of money to party in Cannes rather than doing some introspection into why most employees are miserable. Theres an internal joke that the company’s tagline is “OVERPROMISE, UNDERDELIVER.” Which (as you can expect) means that the clients are never happy. If the projects were at least innovative or cool, maybe it could be worth it. Every project here makes you feel like you are losing brain cells rather than learning anything new. Oh and the tech doesn’t work.

2
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