One great mission and a great company if you like problem-solving - Scientist Helix Employee Review

5.0
Mar 7, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- A great mission. Helix has the mission to provide its users with an easy access to key information such as genetic predisposition to hereditary cancer, high cholesterol levels etc. Helix is also working to help research and increase our biological knowledge. - Very transparent. There are multiple opportunities to learn what other teams in the company are doing. Science Hour to learn about genetics, Data Hour to learn about our key metrics and how we look at these, Design open house (to learn what the design team is working on), TAG (all hands) etc. I have been learning a lot on how to build and run a company since I joined. - There are a lot of things to build, a lot of pieces to put together: logistics of sending saliva kits, creating accounts, sequencing, analyzing the results, storing them, providing access to specific regions of the genome to partners etc. This leads to a lot of small problems to solve as a team. It is a great place to work in if you like problem-solving with a team. - Team is great.

Cons

I don't see a lot of downsides about working at Helix. One of them is the location of our office in San Carlos. It is nice to have our own office and the space is nice but we are a bit isolated. There aren't too many people and other companies right next to us.

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Helix Response
9y
Thanks for providing feedback about our inspiring mission, people, and culture of learning. We're glad that you're finding education programs like Science Hour informative as we look for ways to help people learn about how different functions at the company are contributing to our mission. Should you have any ideas of how we can continue to foster our culture of transparency, feel free to reach out to Grace, Jade, or I. Derek Talent Acquisition

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5.0
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Cons

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1.0
Nov 2, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The industry the company is in has potential.

Cons

After a decade, many basic processes are still not standardized. Simple tasks that should be easy elsewhere take unnecessary effort here. Mid-level managers form cliques, handling conflicts by forcing the more reasonable side to back down. Double standards are everywhere. People who don’t do the work tend to oppress those who do. Managers have a shallow understanding of both the work and people, resorting to bullying those who are kind while avoiding confrontations with the strong or rude. There's a constant manpower shortage, and higher-level issues are often dumped on lower-level employees, but salaries and promotions don’t reflect this. Meetings are mostly for show—employees are only allowed to ask trivial questions or praise each other. If you bring up real issues, they’ll either ask you to fix them yourself or tell you to stay quiet. Layoffs have been frequent over the past year, mostly targeting decent employees who won’t cause trouble or those who dare to speak up. The company is rigidly hierarchical, both in title and race. Middle managers give speeches as if they’re important figures, which is laughable. The quality of employees has dropped, and management is full of holes. Issues in old negative Glassdoor reviews remain unresolved to this day. The tolerance for toxic employees and the chaotic management have left good employees discouraged—they either find excuses to leave or simply cut down their productivity. As one one-star review said, this company needs a complete overhaul, not just minor tweaks.

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