Like joining a cult and re-living high school all in one experience - Anonymous employee Instrument Employee Review

1.0
Nov 20, 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The individual people outside of executive leadership are incredibly wonderful. Instrument has really managed to collect a lot of smart and caring individuals with their rhetoric.

Cons

A real lack of self-awareness around what is an appropriate way to care for employees, or even what is possible within a for-profit corporation. There is a lot of rhetoric around caring for employees through superficial amenities, like a free Headspace account, but in shepherding someone's career they fail spectacularly. They seem to lack any self-awareness around how the drive for maximum profitability limits their ability to be meaningful caretakers of their employees in a personal sense, and frequently they blur the lines around what an appropriate amount of care is or should be. The cult-y vibes that endear you to your employer are leveraged against you when it comes to salary and promotion negotiations if you aren't in the "in crowd". It is generally mystifying how they determine who gets rewarded and how, despite new metrics rolled out nearly every year, with the one constant being the caveat, "at our discretion" allowing them to reward whomever maintains their status quo and rendering everything moot in the end anyway. They have had a lot of cultural issues over the years and always profess a commitment to do better, but in rolling out new standards and processes, C-level executives are never held to those standards, keeping the fundamental problems in place. It is a very fixed environment that claims to be flexible, and you can end up wasting a lot of time there if you don't catch on to it fast enough.

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Instrument Response
5y
Thank you for this feedback and the transparency with which you've shared your feelings about Instrument. As a services organization, we continuously strive for our employees’ experience to be meaningful and authentic, and it’s clear that there were areas in which we fell short for you. Our values and metrics have actually changed very little over the years. As a corporation, profit is indeed a metric for us and important to the ongoing sustainability of the business. That said, it isn’t our only measure of success and we don’t seek to maximize profit at the expense of our work or employee experience. We also measure and share our metrics on diversity, attrition, and employee survey results on equity and inclusion. Again, thank you for taking the time to share about your experience.

Explore other reviews about Instrument

5.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company with great people. Seamless life, work balance, and a very nice company culture.

Cons

No big cons as far as my concern. The pay can be slightly better, but it's okay compared to other agencies' standards.

3.0
Jun 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people here are great. Every team feels fairly connected, even for a 250+ person agency. Work/life balance is the best I've experienced at an agency so far. Pay is fair and scales depending on where you live and your experience overall. Work has the potential to be interesting, but most clients we bring in are not looking for ground-breaking work.

Cons

The benefits are not extraordinary, other than generous PTO. Recently removed a sabbatical program. Layoffs that come as a surprise, with scrambles only months later to fill the eliminated roles. Freelance hiring is hit or miss. Publicly-owned with a parent company that doesn't align with Instrument's morals. Leadership feels fairly disconnected and not genuinely interested in resolving the low morale amongst the larger team. Seemingly more interested in advertising themselves and using AI than in focusing on craft and high-quality projects. Constant leadership departures create anxiety.

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