If this company was actually everything that they pretend to be, and tell their employees and customers they are, it would be outstanding. I believe when the owners started they had the best of intentions, but they grew so much and so quickly it went south.
The biggest problem this company has is false expectations- both to employees and customers. From a product standpoint, they are charging clients a monthly fee for a service that, if done at all, is done in antiquated ways. Unless you’re a top paying client ($1k per month or more, roughly) your monthly fee is paying for an auto pilot program that’s set up at the start and then never touched again unless the customer complains.
The websites themselves are well done. They are templates, they won’t tell you that though- they say they’re custom. Granted, they can be depending on your price point. This actually isn’t an issue because there are certain aspects of a well designed website that just work- HLM recognizes that and in order to be efficient, created templates to reflect. I respect efficiency in a company and their websites are beautiful. The work put into the creation of them is notable.
This brings me to my next point. The biggest value HLM brings to their customers is by far, their talented staff. They are passionate and creative and in most cases, whiz’s in their field. The problem is that the staff is severely undervalued and there is zero loyalty from management to their employees. You are 100% replaceable and they don’t let you forget that. Be sure, if you’re in salary negotiations with this company to start high. They WILL lowball your salary and give you tiny raises once a year but always less than what was originally promised. So if you accept their first offer, the likelyhood of you getting paid fairly even after years of hard work is slim. Research market salary for your position, ask for 10k above and if you’re well qualified expect to settle for about 10k below average.
Their benefits package is a joke, no maternity leave, horribly expensive healthcare, 5 vacation days which includes PTO and sick days. Those are supposed to accumulate after a certain amount of years but if you switch positions or departments (which, when it happens, is usually out of your control, but more on that later) you’re back at square one with vacation days.
Positions, performance expectations, management and department structure are constantly changing and you, an employee, usually have no say in the matter. Management used to joke (when I was there at least) to never get too comfortable in your seat. So if you’re someone who likes to be kept on your toes, you’d do well here. It’s always anyone’s best guess as to what kind of environment, position, or what kind of mood you’re walking into that day.
Lots of false promises are made by upper management. Mainly to pacify you when you inevitably get fed up enough to speak your mind.
In the “interview” section, I read a comment by someone who had interviewed at HLM and the final sentence made reference to the Wizard of Oz. Honestly, there’s no better metaphor for this company. From the outside, it looks grand and sparkly. However, when you pull back the curtain you realize it’s simply smoke and mirrors controlled by a con artist.
