Pros
To start, the work is usually very interesting. I have actually learned a lot at Hudson, and while I obviously couldn't go and qualify for a doctorate now, I've become surprisingly educated on issues in the sciences and pressing global issues because of the work here. Also, doing something that objectively helps people in relatively tangible ways has greatly aided me in avoiding the burnout that is so common these days. Third, I know for a fact that I've become a better writer through my work here, and the large amount of autonomy that even low-level employees have has helped me develop a solid work ethic. Finally, a lot of the people here are wonderful on both a professional and personal level. People are communicative, helpful, friendly, hard-working, and understanding of the inevitable mistakes that come with learning the ins and outs of technical writing. Every writer, team leader or assistant, or training manager I have spoken to in my time here has been a model coworker and a good human being - the type of person anyone would be happy to see at work on a daily basis.
Cons
The dark cloud hanging over everything is the upper management. The upper management at Hudson is capricious, mean-spirited, and completely disinterested in cultivating a tenable working environment. Their responses to worker complaints or concerns often consist of canned language and hand-waving, and that's if they even respond in the first place. I should interject to say that I am not alone at all in how I feel here - this is how pretty much everyone at the company feels about the company owners, and it's been obvious since the day I started. I am not a betting man, but I would throw down a good amount of money that a vast majority of the 4 and 5 star reviews on this website were written by the HR department or the company owners. The upper management at Hudson embodies many of the issues we see with modern corporate leadership: little interest in understanding the day-to-day of workers at any level, preference for a "churn and burn" workforce over cultivating a body of well-trained and productive employees, and replacing longtime employees who leave with a rotating body of unreliable contractors. They compensate people as little as possible unless you offer a substantial amount of pushback, basically daring people to stand up for themselves. When it comes to communicating with upper management, Hudson is a hostile work environment in every sense of the word. They mismanage the company in the traditional sense as well. Hudson retains too many clients to effectively manage and the consequences of this almost always falls on those on the lowest rungs of the ladder. Additionally, many of the company protocols are simply outmoded for an organization of this size, and management has shown little interest in ameliorating the many inefficiencies and making the daily workflow smoother for the team leaders. The problems - understaffed, overworked departments, too many clients with too many demands, and obtuse and occasionally contradictory protocols - have obvious solutions. To make matters worse, the upper management's responses to these issues - automating certain tasks and outsourcing work to contractors - often result in even more problems because of the issues caused by their implementation. Moreover, the upper management is quick to blame the writers and team leaders when this results in client complaints instead of facing these obvious issues. In 2021 alone, they have let go of several long-term employees with little to no warning, and many more have left directly or indirectly because of the stress that working under such fickle and mercurial people has brought into their lives. It's frustrating to leave such a negative review for a job that could be so much better, but unless something changes dramatically, I simply cannot recommend that new employees start here. I guarantee that your talent will be more appreciated elsewhere.