Helix reviews

3.8

68% would recommend to a friend

(118 total reviews)
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James Lu

86% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Helix has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 118 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Helix employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

118 reviews
5.0
Sep 29, 2016

Great early-stage startup

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Noble mission: You're not creating another chat or shared economy app. The technology here will shape human progression. -Great perks: matching 401k, catered meals, relocation benefits, 12 weeks paternity/maternity leave, free shuttles -Solid foundation: Smart, friendly, and experienced executive team. Great investors. -Reasonable work hours: Employees aren't expected to work crazy hours. There are deadlines to hit, but nothing unreasonable. CEO emphasizes family life. -Heavy emphasis on culture: Quarterly culture surveys, candidate screens have culture components, events within the company to promote learning from one another (not just happy hours!) -Smart team: Employees are intelligent and amiable. Positive work environment. -Transparent leadership team: Leadership is very transparent. Every employee knows the burn rate and the execution path for the next several quarters.

Cons

-Company mission is challenging: The general public might not be ready for this kind of technology. Helix will have to define the space. It's hard to describe the company mission to non-tech/biology people. -FDA: The company is trying it's best to be compliant with the government. This slows down some opportunities. -Hiring is slow: Typical problem. Silicon Valley is very competitive.

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Helix Response
9y
Thanks for taking the time to provide us with your feedback! We're glad to hear that you feel that we're holding firm to our values! If you have friends or former colleagues that might be interested in working with us, feel free to invite them in for lunch, ice cream, coffee, or ping pong anytime. Derek Talent Acquisition Team
1.0
May 23, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Helix's mission to help empower people with their DNA is a noble one.

Cons

The senior HR team is about as insensitive and incompetent as any leadership team I've ever come across. It's ironic that the people working in a department whose core responsibility is managing its employee base, often seem the absolute least qualified to do so. They have shown time and time again an utter lack of empathy towards sensitive cultural and diversity issues as well as direct employee communication. Expect to be paid well under market value and with stock not being worth much either, it's a hard pill to swallow. The corporate culture has been eroding for quite some time, and apart from some a small number of employees, Helix isn't a place where you'd go to find company values worth the work hours.

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Helix Response
6y
Ouch, this is really harsh. We’re sorry that you are so angry. We’d like to help you, not only by responding here but also by encouraging you to give us your ideas and feedback directly (because that’s how we roll here at Helix)! The HR team, along with the broader leadership team, care deeply about each of our team members. We want each person to truly feel like they belong at Helix. We want each person to be able to be their best, bring their unique selves, and ultimately be more creative and energized each day. To support this, we spend time simply listening to employees through one-to-one chats with a variety of team members to providing professional development training, to sponsoring the Diversity and Inclusion committee and ERGs, to Unconscious Bias Discussions, and a variety of different social events. Additionally, we’re proud of our inclusive and rigorous talent planning sessions. By including all people managers and leaders in this annual program, each team member gets personalized feedback, development and career suggestions from those who have worked most closely with them. We also use world class benchmarking comp data to ensure that we are keeping pace with the market for every single role. This is incorporated into our bi-annual comp review cycle. Additionally, we are constantly reviewing internal equity, as fair pay is a top priority for us. Lastly, culture is fueled by everyone at Helix. Our team members really live the values and spend time thinking of ways to make life at Helix great. The broader team has created a great learning culture through things like leader-led training, Science Hour or Policy Hour, Industry Updates on Slack, self-driven management development programs, and of course, our frequent and regular all-hands meetings (TAG). This meeting encourages team members to understand, collaborate, question and challenge everything from our overall strategy to upcoming partnerships, products, financials and more. We want Helix employees to have what they need to continue to make our mission a reality. We’re happy to chat more, please reach out to the HR team directly or any member of the leadership team. We’d genuinely like to hear your feedback directly. -- Romina
5.0
Oct 11, 2017

What an opportunity!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Exceptional team at all levels, working on the exceptional opportunity: bring the value decades of research in genomics/DNA to everyone, in a super convenient and compelling way. The CEO and co-founders are practical visionaries, with incredible domain expertise that complements each other very well. Strong company culture, where everyone is truly driven by the company's mission. Very open and transparent communication from the leaders.

Cons

As with any fast-growing startup with an opportunity this size, teams, processes, and priorities are constantly shifting and growing with the needs. If you are considering joining Helix, you should be comfortable with this typical startup environment.

Viewing 13 - 15 of 118 Reviews

Glassdoor has 153 Helix reviews submitted anonymously by Helix employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Helix is right for you.